A Crown of Leaves
by Pale Rider
Summary: Slight AU. In the presence of demons, under the guidance of a Sharingan master, a band of young ninja will become legends. NOT ItaSasu.
1. Uchiha & Uzumaki: Destinies Intertwined!

**Author's Note:** This story is slightly AU (the main way how should be obvious about five paragraphs in). This story will feature numerous OCs, and both heterosexual and homosexual relationships. At this time, I have no lesbian relationships planned, but that may change. Additional notes are in the final 'chapter'. Also, a good knowledge of the manga/TV storyline up to the end of the sannin battle is more or less essential for this fic, because any incidents that occur exactly the same will not be rewritten here. I have enough to do just writing the new stuff.

I want to re-emphasize that this is **_NOT_** an Itachi/Sasuke fic. A reviewer complained about the boxers in the first scene, but there is a completely innocent explanation for this coming in Episode Eight. If you think the first scene implies a sexual relationship between those two, well, that's your dirty mind, not mine.

* * *

**EPISODE ONE: Uchiha and Uzumaki: Destinies Intertwined!**

The hallway of the Uchiha mansion felt comforting and familiar beneath Itachi's bare feet. Many months had passed since he'd last been at his home, and Itachi had found that he missed it keenly—so much so that after he'd delivered his terse report to the Hokage, he'd skipped the usual celebratory sake with his team to come straight back here. In the hundreds of missions he'd performed over the years, Itachi had seen almost all the world, and fallen briefly in love with some of its places. His heart, however, remained in this house.

_Father will be furious with me,_ Itachi thought as he passed his bedroom door, his name lovingly painted on the paper panel. Uchiha Nori always wanted a full briefing on the details of Itachi's missions the moment he got back, and Itachi usually at least gave an outline. After so long apart, though, Itachi needed to be with his heart far more than he wanted to deal with his father's persistent questions. He'd gone straight from the armory to the house's residential wing, ignoring the light glowing in Nori's study.

Itachi reached an unadorned door at the end of the hall—the only one in this wing without a carefully calligraphed name on it—and frowned. Mother, probably because of father's interference, still hadn't painted it. Itachi shook his head and pressed his ear up against the rice paper—he could hear the slow, steady breathing of a sleeper within. Silently, he slid the door open and slipped through, closing it behind him.

Almost immediately, Itachi's lips twitched up into a smile. In the heat, the sheets had been kicked down to the end of the small bed, and the pale, black-haired boy lying on it was curled up, wearing only boxer shorts that were several sizes too large for him. Small as he was, he'd definitely grown over the past few months, and his muscles had clearly developed along with his frame. Like all Uchihas, however, he had a wiry body, his strength arising from sharp reflexes rather than bulk. The boy's peers probably thought he was dead sexy.

In Itachi's eyes, however, Sasuke was simply beautiful.

Unable to hold himself back any longer, Itachi crossed the small room—the smallest in the wing—and sat on the futon. With a shaking hand, Itachi lightly stroked Sasuke's cheek, then his forehead.

Eyelids fluttering, the boy rolled over and bumped into Itachi's knee. This woke him completely, and he sat up, staring at his brother. "Ta-chan?" Sasuke asked quietly, the low tenor voice quite a departure from the soprano that had sulkily bid Itachi goodbye a few months back.

"Somebody's voice changed while I was gone," Itachi noted, grinning.

"Ta-chan!" the boy said, and enthusiastically hugged Itachi. "You're back," he continued, his face buried against Itachi's neck, "You're really back."

"Yes, Sa-chan," Itachi replied, returning the hug gently. "I am, for a good long time." He could feel his hands still trembling as he stroked Sasuke's bare back, his heart pounding erratically as the emotions built up inside him. Itachi pressed a kiss against Sasuke's cheek, then another. "I missed you so much, Sa-chan," he whispered.

"I missed you too," Sasuke said, craning his neck up to return one of the kisses.

"Well, you haven't been missing my clothes," Itachi said, tugging lightly at the too-large boxers. He could feel Sasuke's face heat up against his shoulder.

"I wear them at night... so it feels like you're with me."

"Oh, Sa-chan..." Itachi said, and tightened the hug. Warmth filled the elder Uchiha's chest as he held his brother's slight form against it. The pair maintained the embrace for several long minutes before Itachi released Sasuke.

The boy promptly clambered into Itachi's lap, wrapping his arms and legs around the older brother's chest and waist, respectively. Itachi started rubbing Sasuke's lower back with one hand, and buried the other in his brother's messy blue-black hair. Sasuke sighed appreciatively and nuzzled Itachi's shoulder.

"What has you in bed so early, Sasuke?" Itachi asked, "You're usually reading at this hour."

"The Academy graduation exam is tomorrow," Sasuke replied, his voice slightly muffled.

"And you aren't studying?"

Sasuke leaned back a little and mock-glared at his brother, saying, "I don't need to! I know everything in the curriculum, and ton of jutsus outside it, too."

"So, how many replicas can you make?"

"Twenty!" Sasuke replied, pride clearly showing on his face. The expression slid into a shy one, however, as he added, "but... if you stay with me tonight... I bet I could make twenty-five tomorrow, or even more..." He blushed.

"All right," Itachi said—he'd been privately hoping Sasuke would ask for this anyway. Sasuke smiled—a broad grin that lit up his whole face, even making his dark eyes seem bright—and nearly crushed Itachi with a tight hug. "One condition, though," Itachi added, "You must let me perform a sleep jutsu on you. Otherwise, you'll stay up all night asking me questions and do poorly on tomorrow's test."

Sasuke pouted for a moment, but finally said, "Okay." He allowed Itachi to pick him up and lay him down on the bed, squirming a bit when Itachi teasingly ran fingers along his ribs. "What jutsu are you going to use?" Sasuke asked, as Itachi positioned a pillow under his head.

"One I learned on my trip," Itachi said, flexing his fingers. "A mother in the Nation of Grass showed it to me, and I think you'll like it. It's taijutsu." He summoned up the memory of the jutsu and began to move, touching Sasuke's body at a series of pressure points. Then he bent down, whispered, "Goodnight Kiss Jutsu," and lightly kissed Sasuke on the forehead.

The boy whimpered, then sagged in complete relaxation as his eyes fluttered closed. Itachi, smiling, slid into the bed next to his brother and threw an arm over him, pulling him close again. The night was warm, but with this technique Sasuke was sure to sleep for eight hours without interruption, no matter how hot he got. Itachi, for his part, couldn't care less about the heat, not when he had his beloved brother in his arms.

"I love you, Sasuke," Itachi whispered in his sleeping brother's ear, "more than any other person in this world." He shuddered, remembering the dark days of his adolescence, and squeezed Sasuke a little tighter. "You are my heart," he whispered, "You keep me from drowning in the blood I spill... you hold my soul."

Itachi frowned, thinking of the blank door, his father's indifference and hostility... That Sasuke had to face that during the past months, without anyone here to support him, made Itachi's blood boil with anger and unhappiness. _I'm not going away for that long ever again,_ he resolved, lightly kissing Sasuke's cheek. _Even if it means I must resign from ANBU, I will not leave him in this place alone._

* * *

Akabara Chikako sighed as she stepped out of the Academy Wing of the Hokage Tower and into the summer sunshine of the village street. The small courtyard in front of the door was filled with people; parents and students who had come for the graduation ceremony. She found herself wishing she'd left a few minutes earlier, or decided to stay half an hour later. However, she'd already turned in all her materials, so there was no excuse for her to stay in the building. She bent her efforts to edging her way around the small, but densely packed crowd.

In the confusion, she bumped into someone, and just barely managed to stay standing. Automatically, she reached out and stabilized the other person, noticing only then who it was. "Oh, hello, Sasuke-kun," she said, smiling at the pale boy.

Sasuke looked up at her steadily, his dark eyes, as always, dredging up bittersweet memories. "Good afternoon, Akabara-san," he said politely, "Have you come to see the graduation?"

"No, I'm just finishing up some details here," Chikako said, glancing at the boy's blue-black hair, now held back by a Leaf village headband. "I see _you're_ going to be at the ceremony," she noted. "I'll bet you got the highest grade on the exam."

"I made thirty replicas!" Sasuke said, nodding. The broad, eye-lighting smile he tended to suppress around other adults broke through, and for a moment the resemblance physically hurt, like someone had punched Chikako in the chest.

_Hideaki would be graduating, too, if..._ Chikako savagely broke off that line of thought. No sense dwelling on the past, on the impossible.

Before she could say anything more, though, Sasuke's smile grew even wider and he cried, "Ta-chan!"

In a blur of motion, someone rushed up and lifted the boy into the air as if he weighed no more than a kitten, swinging him around before pulling him into a tight hug. Sasuke plastered himself to the newcomer, wrapping his arms and legs around the other's body. Only after Sasuke had firmly attached did Chikako get a good glimpse of 'Ta-chan'. Other than being taller and better-developed, he looked very similar to Sasuke, but his features were hard and angular where Sasuke's were delicate. His eyes, too, were different—the same dark color, but there was just a hint of crimson in them, and none of the vulnerability that Sasuke's held. Nothing about him reminded her of Hideaki; that was for certain.

The newcomer smiled at Chikako and extended a hand, saying, "I'm Uchiha Itachi."

"A pleasure to meet you, she replied, taking the hand gently. "My name is Akabara Chikako. Are you Sasuke-kun's father?"

Itachi laughed, a warm sound completely incongruous with his hard-looking exterior, but completely fitting the full-body hug he was still getting from Sasuke. "No, I'm not _that_ old," he replied, "I'm just a _very_ proud big brother." Sasuke whispered something into Itachi's ear, probably about the replicas again, and Itachi chuckled and replied, "Did you, now?" He turned his attention back to Chikako and asked, "Akabara-san, are you Sasuke's teacher?"

"Oh, no," Chikako said, "I've been the nurse at the Academy for the past three years, though, so I've seen plenty of him."

"Ah," Itachi said, "So it was _you_ that did that excellent wrapping job on his sprained wrist."

Chikako felt herself blushing, but stayed collected enough to reply, "That and a few other things. A boy like Sasuke, who's very enthusiastic about his studies, tends to acquire—and cause—a number of injuries while in school."

"Well, I hope he hasn't caused _too_ much trouble," Itachi said, thumping the boy on the back. "We should probably go in and get our seats," he continued, "It was a pleasure meeting you, Akabara-san."

"Same," she replied, but the two Uchihas had already disappeared. She stared at the spot where they'd been for a few moments, then turned to start circling the crowd again.

Almost immediately, someone jostled her elbow—blonde Yamanaka Ino, dragging a harried-looking woman who smelled strongly of flowers and plant food. "Akabara-san!" Ino demanded, always imperious these days, "Was Sasuke-kun just here?"

"I believe he went inside," Chikako said, and Ino was gone, leaving only her mother.

"First crush," the elder Yamanaka explained, smiling helplessly, "I wonder if I was as bad at her age."

"I think we all were," Chikako said, "We just try to forget it." Then she caught a glimpse of something through the thinning crowd—a solitary boy sitting glumly on a swing.

Mrs. Yamanaka followed Chikako's curious gaze, then stepped closer and whispered, "Don't stare at him too long."

"Eh?"

"He's _that_ boy."

For a moment Chikako didn't understand, but then the meaning dawned on her. "You mean..."

"Yes. It's just as well he didn't pass the exam; I wouldn't want my Ino being forced to work around... _that_."

"We should be silent," Chikako warned, "You know the law. He might hear us."

"True. Well, it's to be hoped that he'll leave the town in shame." And then she, too, had disappeared into the thinning crowd.

When Chikako looked back to the swing, it was empty. _The Kyuubi's Vessel,_ she thought, _It's strange that I've never seen him before today. Every other student in the school has been in my office at least once, but he..._ She shuddered at the possible implications.

Perhaps it _was_ for the best that he'd failed.

* * *

In the moonlight, Hidden-in-the-Sands village looked like a calm kind of paradise. The still streets and adobe houses shimmered like the stars above them, peaceful and tranquil as their inhabitants slept.

Yet some in the village were still awake.

Sabaku no Gaara turned at the sound of a footstep behind him, more out of habit than any need to defend himself. He nodded at the intruder—one of his father's guests—then turned back to his contemplation of the town. He wondered if anyone had committed a crime recently, something that would give him an excuse to kill again.

"The town looks lovely in the night," the intruder said, seating himself on the edge of the roof next to Gaara. "I can understand why you stay awake to see it."

"I never sleep," Gaara said, glancing at his interlocutor again. He certainly didn't make for an impressive physical specimen—average height, average build, a hint of fat in the cheeks. No ninja, it would seem, yet he wore a protective headband with a quartered circle in the center. Gaara couldn't match the symbol to any village he knew of, but perhaps there was a new one. Yet that would be odd, too, after the so-recent founding of the Sound and Wave villages.

"How marvelous it would be," the man said, "to never sleep. I could see such wonders of the Earth and Sea and Sky..." He brushed some of his long hair—dark brown with a strange hint of green—out of his face. "Though to you, insomnia must seem a curse. I apologize for my enthusiasm."

"I don't care."

"My apology stands, nonetheless," the man said, smiling, "I hate to be rude. Which reminds me, I should introduce myself. I am called Chikakawa Hikaru."

"Gaara," the boy replied, wondering why the man had extended an open hand in his direction.

As if sensing Gaara's confusion, Hikaru said, "In many lands, people clasp hands as a form of greeting." His gray eyes twinkled in the light of the stars.

"You wish... to touch me?"

The man nodded.

Tentatively, Gaara slid his hand into the man's broad palm. Hikaru's fingers folded around Gaara's, completely engulfing the boy's small hand. The contact of skin on skin felt warm, comforting. Something pleasant surged through Gaara, and he felt the corners of his mouth twitching upward.

A moment later, Hikaru withdrew his hand. "You did very well, Gaara," he said, smiling, and the boy felt unaccountably happy to have pleased him. "Could you tell me about this town? Any place that looks so lovely in the moonlight is worth closer examination."

"I... would be glad to..." Gaara whispered.

Hikaru grinned, and Gaara began to reveal all he knew of his home.

* * *

"...and last but not least, take _that_!" Naruto shouted, landing a final uppercut on Mizuki's jaw. The mandible snapped with a satisfying crack, and the teacher went down, already long unconscious. Naruto took a deep breath, the anger flowing out of him as he looked down at Mizuki's broken body. With a mental push, he dismissed his replicas, sighing with relief as their energy flowed back into him.

Then he remembered what had gotten him so angry in the first place and turned around, feeling the first touch of panic as he saw his teacher slumped against a tree. He sprinted over, shouting, "Iruka-sensei! Iruka-sensei! Are you all right?" He desperately shook the man's shoulder, hoping to get a reaction.

The blonde almost fainted with relief when the teacher lifted his head and smiled. "I'll be fine," he said, then tilted his head to look past Naruto and added, "Ah, ANBU-san, I'm afraid you arrived too late."

Naruto, curious, turned and nearly screamed with fright. Standing _right behind him_ was a tall man dressed in black, with some kind of form-fitting armor strapped over his clothes. The flat, almost featureless red mask he wore had no openings for a mouth or nose, and Naruto couldn't see anything but darkness beyond the strange, comma-shaped eyeholes. Only the fact that there was a leaf symbol carved into the forehead of the mask let Naruto relax momentarily, but then he realized what Iruka had said. ANBU... the elite forces... and Naruto was standing there with a stolen scroll.

As if reading his mind, the ANBU soldier said, "You have something that doesn't belong to you, boy." His voice, instead of being muffled, resonated within the mask, losing its tone, but gaining an ominous echo.

Naruto laughed nervously and scratched the back of his head. "Um... here you go?" he ventured, unslinging the scroll from its place on his back and holding it out to the masked man.

Without comment, the ANBU soldier accepted it.

"Do not blame Naruto, ANBU-san," Iruka said lightly, and Naruto felt the reassuring weight of the teacher's hand on his shoulder. "Mizuki misled him to believe that he would pass the graduation exam if he took the scroll."

"This one failed the exam?" the masked man asked. Naruto stared at the ground in shame and pain, feeling very small. After a long pause, the ANBU soldier said, "I dislike being lied to."

"Iruka-sensei ain't a liar!" Naruto shouted, his anger burning away fear and shame, "I failed the test! And... and..." He trailed off, the full enormity of what had transpired hitting him at last. He'd broken the law, stolen a forbidden scroll, and he'd be lucky if they ever let him near the Academy again after that. He'd never become a _genin_, much less the Hokage. Not only that, but he could have died. _Iruka-sensei_ could have died. The only person to ever show Naruto kindness... gone forever, because of his foolishness.

Naruto turned around and threw his arms around the teacher. "I'm so sorry, Iruka-sensei!" he cried, trying to fight back tears again. "I put you in so much danger! I was so stupid!"

"Don't cry, Naruto," Iruka said, lightly hugging the blonde, "You put everything right in the end." He glanced up at the ANBU soldier, chuckled softly and said, "Close your eyes, Naruto."

Naruto obeyed, lowering his head onto Iruka's shoulder. He felt his goggles being removed, and heard his teacher murmur, "Use mine." Then a heavy piece of fabric was tied around his head.

"Open them again," Iruka ordered, and Naruto saw that his teacher no longer wore a Konoha headband.

Hands shaking, Naruto reached up to his forehead and felt a metal plate, inscribed with the symbol of the leaf. "Really?" he asked, "I really... pass?"

Iruka nodded, and Naruto enthusiastically hugged him. "Thank you, Iruka-sensei," he babbled, "thank you thank you thank you!"

He would have gone on like this for a while if the ANBU soldier hadn't interrupted. "It looks good on you, boy," the resonant voice said, "Wear it well." Naruto turned to see that the elite soldier had the scroll tucked under one arm, and Mizuki draped over his shoulder. "I will return the scroll and take care of the trash," the masked man announced. "Can you make it back?"

"I'll carry Iruka-sensei myself!" Naruto promised, jumping to his feet. "After all, I'm a ninja!"

The masked man chuckled. "Indeed you are, Uzumaki Naruto," he said, and with a rustle of wind, he vanished.

"Hey!" Naruto said, "How'd he know my name?"

"Perhaps he read it on the Hokage monument once," Iruka suggested.

Naruto blushed and scratched his head. With a nervous laugh, he said, "Let's get you home, sensei."

* * *

Itachi let his father's hand fall on his shoulder as he entered the main house of the Uchiha compound. He understood without asking what his father wanted to know, what the Hokage had undoubtedly refused to tell him. With age, Uchiha Nori had shifted his focus from ninja arts to politics, and in _that_ kind of warfare, information was the only weapon. The truth about the curious pursuit of Uzumaki Naruto, and its abrupt end, could be a sharp kunai indeed, against the right opponent.

To Itachi, however, information was a tool—one he could use to control his father's interests and attention.

"It has been an eventful day," Nori said.

"Indeed," Itachi replied, "Sasuke graduated with the highest score in his class on the exit exam. The ceremony was quite nice; it's a pity you couldn't make it."

"My duties to the village..."

"You made it to _my_ graduation," Itachi noted calmly, escaping his father's grip with a smooth undulation of his shoulders.

"That was different."

"Only because you perceive it to be. All Sasuke desires from you is to know he is equal to me in your eyes."

"He is not, Itachi," Nori said, his stern face settling into its customary frown. "He does not have your innate skills, and he does not have the Sharingan."

Itachi snorted. "How stupid you are," he retorted, "A ninja is more than just the sum of his abilities... and a son is more than just a ninja."

Nori paled, his jaw tightening just enough to indicate that he was furious. "I will not discuss this with you any further," he said firmly. "Tonight's uproar is of more immediate concern."

"Ah," Itachi said, turning on his heel, "tonight _was_ very interesting. I learned a new jutsu."

"Indeed?" Nori asked, and Itachi allowed himself to feel impressed that the man could keep what must by now be a towering rage from showing in his voice.

"Yes—Shadow Replication."

"The forbidden... who..?"

"Uzumaki Naruto," Itachi replied. He paused at the door to the hallway and turned his head just enough so that he could smirk at his father. "He was the one who stole the Shadow Book, after all."

"The Vessel... learned Shadow Replication?"

"In a single night, no less," Itachi said, turning back towards the hallway. "It seems Sasuke has a very gifted classmate," he added, then stepped through the door.

"Sasuke's classmate..." Nori muttered, his words as clear as a shout to Itachi's trained ears.

_Maybe _that_ will keep you interested in your son, you bastard,_ Itachi thought. He paused by his door for a moment, but then decided to continue on to Sasuke's room. If Nori was unwilling to fulfill his role as a father, then Itachi would show his younger brother enough affection for two men.

* * *

_Ungrateful brat,_ Nori thought as he watched his elder son disappear into the depths of the house, _My hard work has put you in position to become Hokage in a few years' time, and you repay me with nothing but insolence._ Still, the good of the clan had to come first, so Nori would continue to lay a groundwork for Itachi's eventual reign, insolence or no.

Nori snorted, then turned and left the house, slipping on sandals as he walked out into the Uchiha compound's courtyard. The 'good of the clan' had forced him to do a great many things he hated—tolerating Itachi's arrogance, siring that sniveler Sasuke... not to mention what had happened with Hizashi—and he had little doubt that tonight's events would force him to perform yet another odious task for the sake of the family.

_With any luck, the crone will just tell me to kill the boy,_ Nori thought, opening the door to the small hut near the edge of the compound. He carefully picked his way around the bags of grain and pots of herbs, tapping the wall in a precise pattern to open a hidden passage. Certainly slitting the child's throat would put a rapid end to the trouble. _Then again,_ Nori thought as he descended the spiral staircase built into the lower level of the compound wall, _If the crone suggests something else, Sasuke might prove useful, for a change._

Ducking through the low doorway, Nori stepped into a small room lit by a single candle. A luxurious bed was pushed up against one wall, surmounted by a figure swathed in dozens of blankets. _That_ girl—the ironically named Ume—was seated next to the bed, but she automatically stood the moment she noticed her uncle. Nori tilted his head towards the door, and she instantly departed, disappearing up the stairs with a clatter.

"Ah, Nori-kun," a papery voice said, emanating from the bundle on the bed. "I thought you might be coming tonight."

Nori suppressed the urge to swear at her. The crone was just as infuriating as everyone else in his damned family, not least because she had the habit of being right almost all the time. Keeping his demeanor icy cool, Nori crossed the tiny room and took the seat the girl had just vacated.

The crone turned her head to look at him and Nori shuddered at the sight of her eyes—blood red through and through, they had no pupils, just the comma-shaped marks of the Sharingan in the center. The Uchiha blood had gone haywire in her, creating eyes that could not see the physical world. Yet they could see other worlds, hidden to ordinary eyes. Thus the crone was a treasured asset of the clan, a secret Nori and the other clan elders had kept even from the Hokage.

"What do you wish to know?" the crone asked.

"The Vessel of the Kyuubi," Nori said, "is one Uzumaki Naruto. Itachi seems to think he has some potential. Is this something we must take into consideration?"

"Uzumaki... Naruto..." the crone whispered, rolling onto her back. She stared up at the ceiling for several minutes while Nori suffered in silence, knowing that if he so much as coughed while she examined the future, she might demand he leave, or simply refuse to tell him anything. Finally, she said, "There are five strands—white, red, blue, green, and black."

Nori nodded, recognizing the usual beginning to the crone's predictions. She continued, "The black strand is power; the white strand is honor. These strands entwine the Uzumaki boy and our clan. As we draw him close, the black and white strands of the Uchiha grow stronger; as we release him, they grow weaker. If he becomes an enemy, our black strand shall snap. We must bind this boy to us."

"Can we not simply eliminate him?"

"A young death, and the blackest of strands, so long missing from the Weave, will return. All the strands of the Uchiha shall break, and our part in the Weave will end forever."

"Very well, then," Nori said, standing. He didn't want to stay down here a moment longer than necessary. With a sharp nod to the crone, he turned to leave the room.

"Nori-kun," the crone whispered, and the master of the Uchiha clan halted and glanced over his shoulder at her. "I will be dead before the year is out. If you have any more questions for me, ask them while you still can."

Nori nodded, and left. He knew he should be worried about the loss of a great asset like the crone, but as he ascended the stairs, Nori could only feel a sense of relief. He would be his own master soon.

* * *

sun and sky aglow  
facing a greater beauty  
cherry blossoms wilt

"Really?" a tenor voice asked, and Uchiha Tomiko looked up from her book of Ume's haiku. The first rays of the morning sun were falling on the loose gravel pathways of her favorite garden—a small flower-ringed courtyard, separated from the compound's main gate by a few paces and a wall of cypresses. From her position on the low stone bench near the trees, Tomiko could lean just a little and see all the traffic entering and leaving the estate, without being seen herself. Unobserved, she peeked through the gaps in the trees to see her sons moving towards the gate, Sasuke almost prancing alongside his older brother.

"That's right," Itachi was saying, his lips quirked up in a slight smile as he glanced down at the younger boy, "I promised I'd show you some more of my shuriken technique when I got back, didn't I?"

"You're the best, Ta-chan!" Sasuke exclaimed, beaming at the older boy.

_No,_ Tomiko corrected herself, _Itachi is a man, now... and Sasuke will be one soon._ She smiled sadly as she watched two of her children leave the compound. Time had flowed by so quickly, and none of her idle plans to subvert Nori's machinations had ever come to fruition. As that man had intended, Sasuke had grown up completely dependent on Itachi for affection, and Itachi had developed an extreme devotion to his brother.

And Tomiko had faded out of her sons' lives. To Sasuke, whom she hadn't touched in anger or in love since his second birthday, she was completely irrelevant; to Itachi she was nothing more than an object of pity. Tomiko sometimes wondered if she deserved even that. If she had been a real woman, a real mother, she would have fought for Sasuke, defied Nori's ridiculous decrees.

In the end, though, she loved the man—the more so because he forgave her great transgression—so she abandoned her youngest child to loneliness and pain, in an effort to control her oldest. That both boys had achieved a modicum of happiness was cold comfort, particularly when Tomiko considered Sasuke... particularly when she saw that smile. With the rest of his family, with the rest of the world, Sasuke allowed himself only the restrained grin customary for a noble family... a tight twist of the lips, more a superior smirk than a true smile. Behind such an expression, his true emotions could easily be hidden.

With Itachi, however, Sasuke's grin grew broad and a fire lit within his dark eyes. With Itachi, the true beauty of Sasuke's soul showed through in his face. And Tomiko, her relationship with the boy completely ruined, could only see that glorious smile by spying.

_Change this clan, Itachi,_ Tomiko thought, echoing the prayer she'd made every night for over twenty years, _Bring them compassion and love._ Then, forcing the pain and anger down, she returned her attention to Ume's haiku.

gold ruins honor  
the virtuous warrior  
wears a crown of leaves


	2. Teammates!

**EPISODE TWO: Teammates!**

_Another pointless D-class mission completed,_ Hyuuga Neji thought as he left the briefing room, pointedly ignoring Gai and Lee's boisterous exclamations of joy at their success. When the rest of the team turned right, he turned left and wandered down the hallway. By now, the others were used to this behavior, so none of them called after him. After missions—particularly after stupid _grocery shopping_ missions that lasted until _8PM_—Neji liked to relax. Being around Gai and Lee could not be _anybody's_ idea of relaxation.

Neji's meandering halted immediately when he heard the sharp sound of unhurried footsteps echoing in the hall. It was too late for a visitor to be requesting a mission, and ninjas always moved silently... unless they wanted to be heard. _A ninja who makes a lot of noise while walking slowly almost certainly intends to announce his arrival,_ Neji thought. That probably meant a leader of one of the great clans was approaching. Out of habit, Neji ducked into an open doorway and glanced down the hall just in time to see Uchiha Nori stepping into the briefing room.

Neji hated the main house of the Hyuuga above all other families in Konoha, but his distant relatives the Uchihas came in a close second. Their air of smug superiority, particularly when it came to their vaunted Sharingan—a mere parlor trick compared to the power of the Byakugan—constantly infuriated him. When the head of such a boastful clan stomped his way into a room, it could only mean he intended to demand something.

Though he doubted the knowledge could be of any use to him, Neji decided that he should not squander the opportunity Fate had provided. He silently sprinted down the hall and pressed himself against the wall a few feet from the door—close enough to hear, but out of sight.

"...worried you might have gone home already," the Uchiha was saying. "I trust your injuries are not serious, Umino-san."

"I'll be fine in a few days, Uchiha-sama," another voice replied—Neji recognized it as belonging to one of the men who served as Academy teachers and aides to the Hokage. Akira? Yuurika? Something like that. "Thank you for your concern."

"I apologize," the Uchiha clan leader said, "but my purpose in visiting is not entirely social. There is something I must discuss with you."

"Please continue."

"It concerns Uzumaki Naruto..."

Umino sighed, and interjected, "Uchiha-sama, with all due respect, there is nothing to discuss. I have been approached about this matter three times already today, and I will tell you what I told Inuzuka-san, Yamanaka-san, and Umimori-san: Naruto-kun must belong to a group for the final stage of the genin exam. I am aware of your concerns, but I will not consider your dislike for a certain boy when arranging the teams—only the abilities of the children are relevant."

"Please hear me out, Umino-san," the Uchiha said, "I am not here to demand that Uzumaki-kun be kept away from my son. Quite the opposite, in fact. I would like to request that he be placed on a team _with_ Sasuke."

"Request... _with_ your son..?" Umino murmured, then seemed to collect himself. "Forgive me, Uchiha-sama," he said, "I should not have assumed..."

"I am not offended," the clan leader interjected. "I can only imagine the trouble some of the less-enlightened families of the village have put you through."

_What an ass,_ Neji thought, struggling to restrain a disgusted snort.

"When I learned of what happened last night," the Uchiha continued, "I realized that I had been among those who left the boy to fend for himself in the face of that kind of ignorance. I feel I have served the Yondaime's legacy poorly, and would like to make amends."

Neji recognized this as a lie, but Umino was apparently fooled. "So you want to keep an eye on Naruto-kun?" he asked.

"More than that, Umino-san," the Uchiha said, now laying it on very thick. "I hope to provide him with the support of the Uchiha clan. The adolescent years are very tumultuous, doubly so when a boy lacks the support of a family. If I can provide that for Uzumaki-kun, then perhaps I shall atone for my earlier oversight."

The room was silent for several moments, and then Umino said, "Well, I'll take this request into consideration, Uchiha-sama. The balancing of the teams must be my first priority, but in all honesty I was already thinking of placing Naruto-kun and Sasuke-kun together. I think I will be able to fulfill your request."

"Thank you, Umino-san," the clan leader said, "for this, and for your excellent work instructing my son. You are a great asset to this village."

"Thank _you_, Uchiha-sama."

Sensing the meeting was at an end, Neji retreated into a doorway again, listening as the Uchiha's loud footsteps faded down the hallway. _Uzumaki Naruto,_ Neji thought, _I'm going to have to find out more about you._ He permitted himself a tight grin. _And you too, Uchiha Sasuke,_ he added.

* * *

"May I eat lunch with you, Sasuke-kun?" a bright soprano voice asked, and Sasuke turned to say no. Girls were constantly asking to have lunch with him, but if he said yes then they spent the whole time staring and blushing rather than eating or talking. That sort of behavior always made him nervous, and after a few tries, he'd adopted a policy of always refusing.

When Sasuke noticed that the speaker was Haruno Sakura, however, he changed his mind and said, "Very well." After all, it wouldn't be prudent to start off on the wrong foot with _both_ of his teammates.

"Thank you, Sasuke-kun," Sakura said, blushing slightly as she sat next to Sasuke, then opened her lunch and began to eat. After a few bites she said, "I'm sorry about all that trouble with Naruto. He's such a jerk."

"Yes," Sasuke agreed, shuddering as he thought of the kissing incident during the team assignment meeting. He scooped up a clump of rice and swallowed it, wondering why the annoying blonde had done such a thing. He also wondered what he'd done to deserve having that idiot assigned to his team. "It is a great misfortune that we were assigned with him," he commented.

"I know," Sakura agreed. "That guy doesn't know how to behave at all. I suppose it's because he doesn't have any parents—if I did half the things he does, my mother would never let me hear the end of it."

"It would go similarly with my father," Sasuke said, after swallowing a mouthful. "Still, even though he's not entirely to blame, I can't excuse Naruto's behavior. Those that lack discipline don't deserve to become ninjas."

"And besides, he's so _stupid_," Sakura added. "I mean, do you remember what happened when he tried to transform into Sandaime-sama? God, what an idiot! And always going on about how he'll become Hokage someday. He'll be lucky to become a street sweeper!"

Despite his self-control, Sasuke snorted out a short laugh. "Well, let us hope we do not suffer for his stupidity," he said. Then he held up a warning hand as he saw a flash of motion on the academy roof. Sakura fell silent as the two of them watched Naruto clamber over the tiles and sit down on the edge.

"Do you think he can hear us?" Sakura asked.

"I very much doubt it," Sasuke replied, "Still, it would better serve us not to discuss this too much longer. He might see us and move closer suddenly."

"I wonder what he's up to..."

Sasuke shrugged and turned back to his bento. "Who can say why that person does anything?" he asked. "We should be grateful that he is only staring into space instead of causing more trouble."

"Do you think he's planning something?"

Sasuke shrugged, then turned to follow Naruto's gaze. He seemed to be staring at the balcony where Team 8 was eating lunch together. Sasuke supposed they _could_ be targets, but when he glanced back at the blonde Sasuke saw that his expression held none of the poorly-disguised anticipation it usually did when he was about to cause trouble. Instead, he looked wistful, and maybe even... sad. Sasuke shook his head—that idiot's problems were no concern of his. "I do not believe he intends to do anything untoward," he said. "Not at the moment, at least."

To Sasuke's surprise, there was a moment where Sakura looked almost disappointed. Then she smiled and said, "Well, I think we should be close allies. With Naruto on our team, we'll have to work extra-hard just to keep up with everyone else." She stretched out her hand towards him.

Sasuke nodded, smirking as he wrapped his hand around her slender, uncallused fingers. "I agree," he said.

* * *

"So when do you get out of here, Hiroshi?" Itachi asked, stretching as he left the small, uncomfortable hospital chair.

"Three days," Hiroshi replied, "but I'm supposed to stay out of action for another month. These spinal injuries are a drag."

Itachi smirked—even with advanced healing jutsus, spinal fractures were difficult for the medic-nins to cure. Hiroshi, however, never let anything keep him down for long; the medics had said he'd be in the hospital for two years when they admitted him six months ago. "I'm sure you'll be killing missing-nin in two weeks at the outside," the Uchiha heir said. "Anyway, I'll take you out once you're released—we'll drink and remember old times."

"Ah, Itachi," Hiroshi said, "All my 'old times' happened before you were born!"

Itachi smirked and stepped out into the busy hallway, barely avoiding a collision with a running orderly. Dodging that accident caused another, however, as he bumped into one of the medic-nins and sent her sprawling.

"My deepest apologies," Itachi said, helping the medic to her feet. With a glance, he took in as much of her appearance as he could—short brown hair, tan skin, dark eyes—though much was obscured by the bulky and almost shapeless medic-nin garb. Still, what he saw was enough to identify her. "Akabara-san," he concluded without missing a beat.

The medic blushed. "I'm surprised you remember me, Uchiha-san," she said.

"Well, it's not every day that I see my little brother speaking with a gorgeous woman," Itachi replied, flirting effortlessly. "I tend to remember those."

"Oh, how is Sasuke-kun doing?" Akabara asked, her eyes revealing the sincerity of her interest.

"He's meeting his team for the first time today," Itachi replied. "He's very excited."

"I remember how it felt," Akabara said. She was quiet for a minute, then added, "I _am_ going to miss him."

"I'm sure you'll have other students to dote on," Itachi said.

"Oh, no... my internship at the school has ended," the young lady explained. "I'm a full-fledged medic now, so I'll be working at the hospital unless I'm needed for field duty. Besides, I'm very fond of your brother... the way he smiles..."

"He smiles for you?" Itachi asked, his vague interest in the woman growing sharper. "Then you _are_ a special lady. You must call me Itachi," he said, examining her more closely. The body was still obscured, but the thinness of her face, the very faint lines around her eyes, spoke of past sadness. Yet these marks had seemed to fade entirely when she mentioned Sasuke.

"Then call me Chikako... Itachi-san."

"Gladly," Itachi said. At that moment, a loud groan sounded from one of the rooms on the hall.

"Sorry," Chikako said, grabbing a sheaf of needles from a cart, "My duty calls."

"As does mine," Itachi said, remembering that he had an appointment with the Hokage in half an hour. "I hope we'll meet again, Chikako-san... perhaps in more relaxing circumstances?"

"I think I'd like that, Itachi-san." Then she was gone, dodging orderlies and staggering patients as she made her way towards a room with a flashing light over its door.

"He smiles for her," Itachi murmured as he watched her go. "Will wonders never cease."

* * *

"We should begin," Kakashi said, leaning against the rail, "with some introductions. Nothing too elaborate, just... your likes, dislikes, dreams for the future, hobbies... whatever." Silently, he cursed himself for rambling. Kakashi hadn't expected Naruto's appearance to shake him so much, but there he was, looking (and acting! God, that eraser trick...) just like a miniature version of Yondaime-sensei. He'd need a stiff drink after this, that was for sure.

"Why don't you go first, sensei?" the girl asked sweetly. Kakashi frowned at her, but of course the mask prevented her from noticing. The school reports had indicated she was a bit of a teacher's pet, but he hadn't expected her to be so _obvious_ about it.

"Well," he said, "my name is Hatake Kakashi. I'm not really interested in telling you what I like or don't like, though I will say I have many hobbies. My dreams... well, those are secret." The girl blinked, and Kakashi smiled behind his mask. _Jounin 1, annoying brats 0,_ he thought, then said, "Now it's your turn."

"Oh! Oh! I'll go!" the blonde said, and Kakashi forced himself to merely shrug. Letting his interest in the boy show could only lead to problems later—in the unlikely event that there _was_ any 'later' for this team. Judging from the aloof way the Uchiha boy and the girl looked at Naruto, it was unlikely they'd figure out his exam.

"My name is Uzumaki Naruto!" the blonde said, tugging on his headband—obviously something he deeply treasured, poor kid. "I like _ramen_! Especially the _Ichiraku_ ramen Iruka-sensei buys me sometimes! I hate the way... I hate waitin' three minutes for cup noodles to cook! And my dream is to become Hokage! To have all the villagers recognize me as a great ninja!"

_What was it you meant to say that you hated?_ Kakashi wondered, though he knew enough to guess.

"Um... hobbies," Naruto continued, "Well, I suppose playin' pranks."

Kakashi raised an eyebrow, and the kid had the decency to look embarrassed. "How interesting," the jounin said, then pointed at the girl and added, "Your turn."

"My name is Haruno Sakura," the girl said. "I like..." she trailed off, giggling, and glanced at the Uchiha, then blushed deeply. The boy blushed too, when he figured out what she was too embarrassed to say. "My dreams..." she glanced at the boy again, setting off another annoying round of mutual blushing.

"Is there anything you hate?" Kakashi prompted, noting to himself that the girl would almost certainly be a big problem for the team if it lasted beyond tomorrow. Assuming the Uchiha boy resisted her advances, there would be obvious strain, and if he returned her affection... Well, judging from the way Naruto looked at her, that would produce an even larger problem: romantic rivalry.

"Things I hate?" the girl asked. "Well, I hate that pig Ino... and Naruto."

The blonde looked desolate for a moment, but then his face settled back into an inquisitive grin. Kakashi wondered if Sakura's remark had really rolled off so easily, or if the blonde was simply skilled at hiding his emotions. Kakashi shrugged and signaled to the last member of the team.

"I am called Uchiha Sasuke," the pale, dark-haired boy said quietly. "I enjoy my brother's company, and hard training. I dream that one day I will become a strong ninja like my brother and fight at his side in the elite forces. In my spare time, I learn all the jutsus I can—I have no other hobbies. As for things I hate... well, I hate liars. And I guess... I hate Naruto, too."

For just an instant, so briefly that Kakashi wouldn't have caught it if his attention had _actually_ been on the Uchiha, the blonde looked positively murderous. Then his former smile returned, though there was a feral glint in the eyes above that cheerful grin that made Kakashi nervous. _I wonder if you made a mistake, sensei,_ Kakashi thought, staring at those eyes, _I wonder if I will be the one to pay for it._

"Well then," he said, "now that we know each other, allow me to describe our mission for tomorrow..."

* * *

"Followed six missing-nins into Nation of Lightning. Killed them," the Sandaime read from the torn strip of paper on his desk. He looked up and frowned at the young man lounging on one of the room's cushions. "This hardly qualifies as a proper report, Itachi-kun," he admonished.

"Ask anyone on my team," Itachi replied, "You'll find that it's completely accurate."

"I am not concerned about the accuracy," the Sandaime said evenly. "I am, however, somewhat disturbed by the absence of _detail_. Your mission lasted five months..."

"And I included every relevant event in my report. Including 150 days worth of weather reports won't make that statement one bit more useful."

The Hokage frowned, though he knew it wouldn't have any effect on the Uchiha heir. Their indebtedness to each other made respect a difficult tool to use on the young man. The Sandaime sighed and asked, "Could I at least prevail upon you to use the appropriate _form_?" He waved the muddy strip of paper in the air for effect.

"Fine," Itachi drawled, "I suppose if it's _absolutely_ necessary..."

"It is," the Sandaime said. "I can't afford to be showing you any favoritism right now; not with Hiashi trying to stir up trouble among the clans over that business with Naruto."

Itachi's relaxed demeanor vanished at the mention of the Hyuuga clan leader. "How much trouble?" he asked.

"Not a great deal," the Hokage explained, "Hiashi knows he can't make any promises to kill or banish Naruto, so he's only causing trouble to use it as leverage on other issues. He doesn't seem to know about your father's request, so he's acting as if the Uchiha are—or will soon be—on his side."

"I'll mention that to father. He'd relish the chance to cut the Hyuuga down to size—publicly, if possible."

"See what you can do," the Sandaime said. "Has the crone told you anything of importance?" he asked.

"I've had no chance to speak to her alone since I returned," Itachi replied. "I'm hoping for a visit tonight."

The Sandaime nodded—he owed Itachi a great debt of gratitude for defying his clan and secretly revealing the existence of the crone to him. He often wondered, though, whether the Uchiha heir had done so on the old woman's orders. Regardless, the Sandaime meant to repay the favor. "As you requested, I've placed you on defensive rotation," he told Itachi, "You won't have any required missions outside of the Fire Country for at least a year. Officially, you'll be on call in case of emergency. In peaceful times like these, however, you probably won't even need to leave the village."

Itachi smiled slightly and nodded. "Thank you, Hokage-sama," he said, "I've missed my family greatly these past few months." He stood up, bowed to the old man, and began to leave, but paused at the door and turned back. "I have a request," he announced.

"Yes?"

"I think Sasuke will become a genin after tomorrow's secondary test, even if Kakashi _is_ his instructor," Itachi explained. "If that happens, I would like you... I would like you to go slowly with his missions. He's not as strong as he thinks he is, and I don't want him to get hurt."

The Sandaime frowned. "I will take it into consideration," he replied, "but it is my duty to see to it that the village's ninjas are ready for battle. Sasuke will never improve if he isn't challenged. All ninjas take risks—remember that."

Itachi stiffened at the soft rebuke, but nodded again and left.

"Protective, isn't he?" the Hokage muttered. "That could be very useful indeed..."

* * *

Sasuke sat on a bench in the Uchiha clan gardens, aimlessly drawing designs in the walkway gravel with his toe. There was a rush of wind, and he felt an arm around his shoulder almost before he noticed his brother's arrival. "Show-off," he muttered as Itachi mussed his hair, and retaliated by poking his brother in the ribs.

"So... how do you like your new teammates?" Itachi asked.

"Ugh," Sasuke said, "Don't even get me started."

"That bad, huh?"

"Well, there's a girl, Sakura," Sasuke explained, "who's _way_ behind in her physical skills. She knows plenty of jutsus, but she's too weak to do any of them all that well. And she..."

"Yes..?"

"I think she has a crush on me," Sasuke muttered, feeling his face heat up.

"Wow! My little brother has his first girlfriend!" Itachi said, folding his hands under his chin. "It's so romantic!"

"Shut up," Sasuke muttered, blushing even more. "She's _not_ my girlfriend."

"Riiight," Itachi said, winking at Sasuke, "'Not my girlfriend'... I've heard that line before."

"She's not!" Sasuke protested.

"Fine. So what about your other teammate?"

"He's even _worse_!" Sasuke said. "Uzumaki Naruto—he was the worst student in the Academy, and he's _loud_, and I can't _stand_ him! He's always pulling pranks and doing stupid things. I mean, this morning he climbed up on a desk and got _right in my face_, glaring at me like I should care who he is, and then he sort of fell towards me and..." Sasuke trailed off, not really interested in reliving _that_ particular moment.

"And..?"

"Andhekissedme," Sasuke blurted, adding, "It was an accident!" when Itachi burst out laughing.

"Maybe I spoke too soon!" Itachi roared, "my brother has a **boy**friend!"

"Gah! Shut up!" Sasuke shouted, "I didn't want it to happen! My first kiss got wasted on a loser... you think I wanted that?"

It took several minutes before Itachi calmed down. When he was finally settled again, he asked, "So he does things like that all the time?"

"Yeah, he's always causing trouble or playing stupid pranks. Sakura thinks it's because he doesn't have any parents... so he can do whatever he wants. I guess it's nice, not having a mom or dad always on your case."

Without quite remembering how he got there, Sasuke found himself sitting on the walkway, his ear throbbing with pain. Almost as soon as he realized that Itachi had cuffed him hard enough to knock him off the bench, Sasuke felt himself being moved, and ended up in his brother's lap. Itachi kissed his stung ear, and a bit of the ache ebbed away.

"I just hit you on the ear," Itachi noted, his arms wrapping themselves loosely around Sasuke's torso, "and then I pulled you into my lap, where I could hold you and kiss you."

"Yeah, I noticed," Sasuke said, leaning into his brother's body.

"When you're part of a family, Sasuke, you receive more than discipline... you receive love, too. Not having one means that Naruto hasn't had the other either."

"I... I'm not sure I understand."

"You missed me when I was gone, right?"

"Of course!" Sasuke said. He'd been absolutely miserable, especially since everyone else in the clan treated him—as usual—with nothing more than a grudging tolerance. He never wanted for food or shelter, but nobody ever hugged him or asked how his day went. Only Itachi ever bothered to do those sorts of things.

"Even though the rest of the clan was around, you were unhappy because I was gone?"

"Yeah..."

"So imagine if they hadn't been here... if there was no Uchiha clan. Just you. Mother, Father, me... pretend none of us existed. Imagine I'd gone away and was never coming back."

Sasuke tried to envision life without Itachi, without even the hope that he'd return. "I can't," he admitted after a few moments.

"And I can't imagine life without you," Itachi said, "but I'm pretty sure I'd be lonely, all the time. Naruto's life is like that. Nobody's there to cuff him on the ear when he does something wrong, but nobody's there to hug and kiss him when he hurts either. That kind of loneliness must be much more painful than any punishment a parent could administer."

Sasuke stared at the gravel, wondering if that was really true. "I still don't like him," he said after a moment.

"You don't have to _like_ your teammates," Itachi said, "you just have to work with them. Give him a chance, Sasuke... who knows, this Naruto guy might become your best friend."

"_You're_ my best friend," Sasuke protested.

"I thought I was your brother."

"You're both, Ta-chan," Sasuke said, hugging Itachi.

"Same goes for me, Sa-chan," Itachi said, returning the hug, and lightly kissing Sasuke's cheek.

Basking in the affection his brother gave him, Sasuke sighed happily and wondered, _Could I really live without this?_

* * *

"Where is your father, Itachi-kun?" the crone asked as the clan leader's elder son stepped into the tiny room that had been her home for decades.

"Nori has gone into the village," Itachi replied, pulling the small chair up next to the bed and taking the woman's hand. Her thin, arthritic fingers clamped onto him tightly, the poorly-trimmed nails almost digging into his skin. "Hyuuga Hiashi has organized an informal meeting to create public outrage about the Uzumaki boy; father intends to cut his feet out from under him."

"A wise choice," the crone said, "The black strand of the Hyuuga grows fainter—it is rotting from within."

"What does that mean for Konoha?" Itachi asked.

"A great change comes to Konoha... to all villages. The Weave is disrupted—many strands snap, as if a great knife has sliced through our world. Those that remain draw together, but beyond that I cannot see. Endless possibilities... many paths lead to the end of all things, great impenetrable darkness..."

After the old woman had been silent for several minutes, Itachi asked, "What can we do? What shall I tell the Sandaime?"

"We can do little now," the crone said, her sightless eyes fixed on the ceiling, "He who wields the knife has disguised himself, even from me. His power is... strange, unlike ninja techniques, but similar... I cannot see his black strand, and I cannot see him." Then her fingers dug into Itachi's hand and the old woman sat up, her sightless eyes staring eerily into his own. "The Uzumaki boy, he is the key," she hissed, "we must hold him close to our clan..."

"Ume told me," Itachi said, "She listened while you spoke to Father and sneaked away afterwards. You should know that he got Uzumaki onto Sasuke's genin team."

"I did not tell Nori everything," the crone said, falling back into the cushions again. "I _could_ not tell him everything," she continued, "I spoke to him only of the white and black strands. But another... another binds Uzumaki to us."

"Which strand?"

"Red. It is the red strand, which is love."

"Love? But Sasuke hates him!"

"It may not be Sasuke that loves him."

"Well, _I'm_ not going to fall for a 12-year-old boy... I'm straight, for one thing, and not into pre-pubescent kids either. Ume, though... she's not too much older..."

"It may not be romantic love that I see," the old woman said, "The Weave shimmers around Uzumaki; its shape is difficult to ascertain. I can only speak in generalities."

"So why didn't you tell this to father?"

"Because it _might_ be romantic love... certainly Nori-kun would think of that at first, just as you did," the crone whispered. "If I told him of it, he might ignore his duty to the clan and get rid of Naruto."

"Why?"

The crone was silent for several minutes, and then said, "Because, decades ago, your father was with someone other than your mother. But the clan needed an heir, and at my urging, your father abandoned the man he loved and married a woman he did not... a woman I chose, who became your mother. So you understand, Itachi-kun, why my demands for him to facilitate love would infuriate him."

"I never knew you were such a manipulator," Itachi said.

"Then you have learned a valuable lesson, Itachi-kun," the old woman said, "When you command your ANBU team, you succeed by telling your soldiers what you want them to _do_. When you command a clan, or a village, you succeed by telling the people what you want them to _know_." She sighed and continued, "The chief difficulty in my predictions is that in many cases, those who become aware of the Weave change their destiny. So I must limit what I reveal if my sight is to have any use."

_What have you kept from me?_ Itachi wondered, gazing at the wrinkled figure on the bed. Despite his questions, though, Itachi knew he had little time before his father would return, and there would be hell to pay if he was discovered here. "What should I tell the Sandaime?"

"None of what I have just told you. The disruption of the Weave, Uzumaki's part in this clan... they belong to a future in which he does not exist. So tell him this: I am dying. My time grows very short—as does his."

Itachi nodded and stood, disentangling his hand from the crone's. With a gentle pat to her shoulder, he turned to leave, but stopped when the old woman called to him.

"Itachi-kun, you must not tell your brother about my predictions for Naruto. Such a move could ruin everything, and destroy our family."

"I will obey you."

"Also, tell the Sandaime something else... Tell him... A monkey that fights a viper will surely die... but if the monkey is clever enough, the viper will also die."

Itachi blinked at the cryptic statement, but nodded his head and said, "I will inform him of your words."

"Goodbye, Itachi-kun," the old woman said as the Uchiha heir started up the stairs. "We will not meet again."


	3. An Honest Smile!

**Author's Note:** Flashbacks will appear in _underlined, italicized text._ Just thought I should make a note of that.

* * *

**EPISODE THREE: An Honest Smile!**

_Let's see if they figure it out,_ Kakashi thought, slipping into a tree where he could see and hear his team without them sensing him. None of them had skills quite good enough to detect him, but just for good measure Kakashi slid into the slow muscle rhythm of perfect stillness and suppressed his chakra flow. Only a very good chuunin would have a chance to locate him in this state, and despite Sasuke's self-assessment, nobody on team 7 was at that level.

The aristocrat and the girl ate silently for a few moments, but the stillness was broken by a loud growl from Naruto's stomach. "Ah, I'm okay, really," the blonde protested, his statement punctuated by another growl.

"If you keep doing that, we will have a difficult time defeating Hatake this afternoon," Sasuke said. A moment later, Kakashi's eyes widened in anticipation as the dark-haired boy said, "Here."

_Maybe this is the time,_ Kakashi thought. _Maybe I've finally got a team worth teaching._

"What are you doing?" Sakura asked. "You could get disqualified!"

"Don't be alarmed," Sasuke replied, "I cannot sense Hatake-san anywhere."

"But he's a jounin!" Sakura countered. "He probably has all kinds of hiding techniques we'd never be able to penetrate. I'll bet he's listening in right now, to see if we disobey his orders and feed Naruto! Don't risk yourself for _him_! He's worthless!"

_Blinded by a crush and personal animosity,_ Kakashi thought. _Teenage girls are so useless._ He wondered if Sasuke would be smart enough to disregard her opinion.

He wasn't. "You have a point," the Uchiha said, "Even with a full stomach, Naruto probably would not be much help."

"Hey! I'm _right here_, jerk! Quit talkin' like I'm not! And I did _way_ more than..."

"Than whom?" Sasuke asked, his sly voice suggesting he knew _exactly_ what Naruto had been about to say.

"Nobody," Naruto said, his broken voice almost too quiet for Kakashi to hear.

_Even after that little outburst, he still seems to like her,_ the jounin thought. _He'd rather take undeserved abuse than point out that Sakura gave the poorest effort this morning._

The children were silent for a moment, and Sasuke said, "In truth, Naruto, if I could be sure that Hatake wasn't nearby, I would happily share my lunch with you. But Sakura-chan is correct—with his level of skill, we cannot be sure. The risk is too great to bear."

"Yeah, yeah," Naruto replied. "Look, couldja just... I dunno, _move_ or somethin'? So I don't hafta _watch_ you?"

"Don't, Sasuke!" Sakura interjected, and Kakashi almost smacked himself in the face. How cruel and stupid could this girl be? "Hatake-san said to _stay here_ and eat. What if he meant for us to stay in the same spots? We can't risk it. Naruto, just close your eyes."

"You gotta be kiddin'!"

"You've got only yourself to blame!" the girl snapped. "If you hadn't tried to break the rules, you wouldn't be tied up like that!"

_That's my cue,_ Kakashi thought, and vaulted down from the tree branch. Moving with his true speed, he had crossed the clearing and snatched the children's' lunches before they even registered his appearance. "I forgot something," Kakashi said, spilling the food onto the ground, "I said that the person who didn't get the bells wouldn't get any lunch. Since none of you got the bells, none of you should be eating. I _was_ being kind to let Sakura and Sasuke have a meal, but that was a sort of test in itself." The silver-haired jounin ruefully noted that Sakura and Sasuke had managed to eat most of their food anyway, but some things couldn't be helped.

"I knew it!" Sakura crowed, "You _were_ watching!"

"Yes, I was," Kakashi said, smiling, "You failed. Again." The crestfallen look on Sakura's face was delicious—almost worth the trouble of listening to her annoying lunchtime rants.

"But we obeyed all your rules!" Sakura said.

"Some rules must be ignored," Kakashi retorted, "People who disobey our laws are called trash, but a person who ignores a teammate's suffering—even if ordered to do so—is worse than that. You disgust me."

By now, Sakura looked absolutely stricken, and no doubt feared she'd be summarily dismissed from the exam. The idea of breaking a rule had probably not occurred to her, at least not under these circumstances, and Kakashi wondered for a moment if the team would be in this position if anyone other than Naruto was tied up. Naruto would certainly have given up his food for Sakura, and she might well have given up hers for Sasuke—rule or no. In a way, they were unlucky that Naruto had been at the center of the test. Then again, that bad luck probably made the assessment more accurate.

Sasuke had managed to keep a neutral expression, but his darting eyes betrayed a certain level of panic. Naruto, surprisingly enough, also looked distressed. Of course, Naruto hadn't gotten a chance to show his worth in this test, so Kakashi would have to keep his word.

"Right now, you're wondering if I'm just going to ship you all back to the Academy," Kakashi said, "and to tell you the truth, I'm quite tempted to do just that. However, I think it would be pretty unfair of me to flunk Naruto because of his teammates' failure. So I'll give you one more chance." He hardened his gaze and continued, "But you guys have really tried my patience, so this time I'm _serious_ about what the bells mean. No matter what, at most two of you can pass the test this afternoon."

"On the bright side," Kakashi added, smiling, "consider this: I've had two students manage to take bells from me in the past, so things aren't completely hopeless."

"So when do we start?" Naruto asked, eagerness showing on his face.

Kakashi winked and casually hurled a shuriken at the post he'd tied the blonde to. The blade snapped the critical rope, and the whole coil fell down almost before Kakashi had reset the alarm and walked halfway to the stream. "You have one hour, starting right now," the jounin called over his shoulder.

* * *

"We need a plan," Sasuke said, grabbing Naruto's shoulder before he could go charging at Hatake again.

To Sasuke's surprise, the blonde didn't struggle—he just jerked himself out of the taller boy's grasp and sat down, rubbing his legs to get the blood flowing properly again. "_I've_ got an idea," Naruto suggested.

Sasuke snorted and rolled his eyes. "Those who have _brains_ should do the planning, dunce," he retorted, "Just obey the orders Sakura-chan and I give you and we will get the bells. We can decide how to divide them up later."

Naruto scowled and muttered something under his breath, but subsided when Sakura glared at him. At least that girl was good for _something_—Naruto'd had the right idea, though he lacked the nerve to criticize her. As far as Sasuke could tell, the only thing Sakura had done this morning that was of _any_ use was digging him out of that damned hole.

"So what's your great plan, almighty Sasuke?" Naruto sneered.

"Our only chance is to surprise him," Sasuke said, "He almost certainly expects us to keep attacking him one-on-one."

"So we attack in a group!" Naruto suggested.

"_No_," Sasuke growled through gritted teeth, "We don't know enough about each other's styles and habits to make a properly coordinated assault. We'd just end up hurting each other. So we give him _exactly_ what he expects, and lay a trap."

"But Sasuke-kun," Sakura objected, "Hatake-sensei is a jounin. He'll detect any trap we lay."

"Not if he has no time to scout the area," Sasuke replied. "In this respect, _you_ will play a key role," he continued, pointing at Naruto, "This morning I noticed a clearing 20 meters off to the east. You must keep Hatake away from it for the next half hour while Sakura and I set traps. When that time is up, lead him back there. I will then take over and try to force him into one of the traps. Understand?"

"Sure," Naruto said, "I'm a great distraction!" He performed that strange version of the replication technique and a moment later five of him were bounding off into the woods.

Sasuke headed for the clearing, but stopped when he felt Sakura's hand on his shoulder. "Sasuke-kun," she asked, "what are we going to do about the bells?"

"Let us worry about that when we the time comes, shall we?" Sasuke suggested. "After all, Hatake might be lying again."

"But what if he isn't?" Sakura asked. "I don't want to go back to the Academy, and you don't deserve to go back either. And I _definitely_ don't want to be on a team with that obnoxious halfwit loser."

_All right, if it'll make you shut up..._ Sasuke thought, and said, "Consider this, Sakura... Naruto ate no lunch, and he will fight Hatake—or run away from him—for the better part of an hour. By then he will be completely exhausted, so he won't be able to stop you and me from just taking the bells. We get a bell each, and he gets nothing... no loss when you think about it. He could probably use another year at the Academy anyway."

"I thought that's what you would say," Sakura commented, smiling. "I just wanted to be sure."

"Very well," Sasuke said, turning back towards the clearing. He paused for a moment, thinking he saw a flash of orange in the underbrush. He decided to ignore it, though—the only thing bearing that particular color in this area was Naruto, and he was almost certain the blonde couldn't move silently.

* * *

With a crash and a yell, Naruto flew into the clearing, bouncing a few times on the grass before he finally collapsed. Hatake raced in after him, stopping over the exhausted boy and snatching an orange book out of his hands. "That book is not for children," he said calmly, tucking it back into his pouch.

"Pervert!" Naruto wheezed, but he didn't have a chance to say anything more before Sasuke launched his attack.

Sakura almost gasped at the graceful beauty of the raven-haired boy's moves; he ducked and wove around Hatake's counterattacks like his body had turned to water. She imagined how his muscles would look, rippling under his skin as he fought, and felt her heart start pounding. _Maybe Hatake-san will cut Sasuke's shirt open,_ she thought, watching the two of them fight. _A girl can hope._

Sakura's breath caught in her throat as the two combatants neared the first trap. Hatake seemed to sense the large, shallow pit before he could tumble into it, but Sakura had expected that. She stared as he shifted his right foot away from the large trap and it fell through what looked like solid ground into a small, deep hole—the trap disguised by the first trap. _We got him!_ Sakura thought triumphantly, but slumped when Kakashi swapped himself with Sasuke and hit the boy with a vicious uppercut.

Sasuke kept his wits, though, and swapped himself with a branch near one of their trap controls. He cut through a wire that launched a barrage of shuriken, then jumped back into the fray behind them as Hatake deflected the whirling blades with his kunai. Sakura cut a wire of her own, causing a makeshift net to rise around the jounin, but he jumped just out of its perimeter.

Minutes passed as Sasuke furiously attacked Hatake, driving him into traps that sprung themselves, or luring him near traps that he or Sakura activated. Each time Hatake seemed just about to finally get caught, he would duck, dodge, or roll out of the way at the last instant. Shuriken, rope, metal strings, logs, twigs, and grass filled the air, making it difficult to see Sasuke and Hatake as they continued to battle.

_We're running out of time,_ Sakura thought as she heard a wooden foot-trap snap shut on empty air. There couldn't be too many traps left anymore, not at the rate they'd been sprung. In fact, if she'd kept an accurate count, there was only one. _I have to act,_ Sakura thought, _or else we're _all_ going back to the academy._

Drawing her kunai, Sakura jumped out of the tree where she'd hidden herself and charged across the clearing towards Sasuke. Hatake seemed to wave at her, and then she was on the ground, realizing too late that the jounin had thrown a bolo at her, two shuriken with a wire in between that had wrapped around her legs. Sakura sat up, trying to work the wires loose with her kunai.

Sasuke, meanwhile, had taken advantage of the opening created when Hatake threw his shuriken. He seized the jounin's hand and forced him back towards the final trap—one very much like the first. Hatake seemed to sense the similarity and moved his foot to avoid both the shallow pit and the deep, ankle-twisting hole.

Sakura smiled as Hatake's foot landed straight in another deep pit—a trap within the trap within the trap. With one hand seized by Sasuke, he couldn't form seals to swap himself away. _We've won!_ Sakura thought.

Then Hatake's free leg slammed up into Sasuke's stomach, launching the boy into the air. Sasuke pulled hard on Hatake's arm, but because both of them were off their feet, the jounin was able to swing him to the side. Hatake had already brought his free leg down to push his trapped leg out of its hole. Sasuke's chance was wasted...

And then Hatake was gone, replaced by Naruto. Sakura yanked her head around just in time to see a kunai—thrown by another Naruto—fly past Hatake's waist before the jounin was replaced by _yet another_ Naruto, who dove towards the ground.

The alarm rang, signaling the end of the exam.

The two extra Narutos in the clearing disappeared, and the real one lay motionless in the grass.

Sakura sagged in defeat. _I'm going back to the Academy,_ she thought, _All my hard work was for nothing._ Then she was jerked back to reality by a noise—a sound that under these circumstances she absolutely _shouldn't_ have been hearing.

Naruto was _laughing_.

* * *

Naruto laughed, eyes closed as the feeble afternoon breeze wafted across the clearing. The tiny metal spheres were cold in his hand, jingling quietly as he brought it up to his chest.

He'd gotten the bells.

He was sore, dirty, sweaty, tired, and nearly sick with hunger, but he'd gotten the bells.

"Good work, Naruto," Kakashi said, "though it was mostly luck."

Naruto didn't even have the energy to yell at the guy. Hell, he was right anyway; Naruto had just been guessing where the bells would end up when his replica swapped places with Kakashi. When he'd made the second swap, getting Kakashi away from the (hopefully) falling bells, he'd honestly been surprised to feel them drop into his palm.

Taking a deep breath, Naruto sat up, still clutching the bells, and opened his eyes to see the jounin standing in front of him. "I suppose you have a decision to make," Kakashi said, dusting off his vest. "You've got two bells, but you're only one person. So... you get to decide who passes the test with you."

Naruto glanced over to his teammates. Sasuke, crouching and breathing heavily, was glaring at him, and Sakura, still pulling halfheartedly at the wire with her kunai, simply looked shocked. Neither of them said anything. Then again, maybe they'd said enough.

"Well, we can't stay here all afternoon," Kakashi said. "Pick: Sasuke or Sakura."

Naruto glanced at Sasuke again and got a steady, almost threatening glare in return.

_"As for things I hate... well, I hate liars. And I guess... I hate Naruto, too."_

_"Those who have _brains_ should do the planning, dunce."_

_Even now, when I could send you packin' back to the Academy, you still hate me,_ Naruto thought. _Maybe you hate me even more._

Turning from the Uchiha, Naruto saw that Sakura was smiling at him, but he could tell it wasn't sincere. It wasn't like the smile she gave Sasuke, the smile she had given Naruto in his dreams—though he doubted he'd be dreaming of her ever again, after all the things he'd heard her say today.

_"Well, I hate that pig Ino... and Naruto."_

_"Don't risk yourself for _him_! He's worthless!"_

_They both hate me,_ Naruto realized. He'd given their plan his all, then saved their sorry butts with his _own_ plan, and he couldn't get a true smile from either one of them. Instead he got an honest glare and a false smile—no acknowledgement, no approval, nothing that he'd dreamed he'd find as a ninja. Just the same things he'd gotten all his miserable life.

That thought made the choice easier. Naruto liked to make trouble, but he didn't like to make people feel bad. He knew all too well how awful _real_ unhappiness was, and he wouldn't wish it on anyone... not even Sasuke. Whoever got sent back to the Academy would be completely dejected, and Naruto was used to misery in a way the other two simply couldn't be. _I'll find my own way,_ Naruto thought, _Even if Kakashi says I can't be a Konoha ninja, I'll find some way to become Hokage._

In his heart, Naruto wasn't really sure he believed that. Still, even though he knew for a fact that Sakura and Sasuke didn't have any qualms about ruining his life, he couldn't bring himself to ruin theirs. Taking a deep breath, Naruto stood up, dropping one of the bells into his empty hand.

"Made your decision?"

"Yeah," Naruto said, and threw both bells to his teammates.

Sakura's jaw dropped. Sasuke's legs gave out and he sat down hard on his ass. And then, very slowly, they reached out and picked the bells up. Naruto turned away, not wanting to watch his dream die, even if he'd been the one to choose it. Feeling a little wobbly, he started to leave the clearing, only to run into Kakashi's chest.

"I'm afraid you can't leave yet," the jounin said.

"What?" Naruto asked, then realized the obvious. "Oh, yeah." With a heavy heart, he reached up and untied his headband with a quick pull, holding it out towards Kakashi without looking at the man. "Iruka-sensei gave me this," he said quietly, blinking tears out of his eyes. "Please return it to him?" Naruto felt the headband being lifted from his hand, and stepped to the left to go around Kakashi.

He bumped into Kakashi's chest again. "What?!" he shouted, finally looking up at the masked jounin's face, "Why won't you let me leave?"

Kakashi's hands moved forward in a blur, and Naruto suddenly felt the weight of the headband on his forehead again. "Because you passed."

"W-what?"

"I told you before that two students had successfully taken a bell from me," Kakashi said, "but what I did not tell you was that even _those_ students failed my test."

"What? Why?"

"Because they selfishly kept what they had captured, choosing to deny others' dreams rather than risk their own," Kakashi explained. "A ninja's life is full of hard battles, and hard choices. Sometimes, we have to give up our lives and our dreams for our teammates. Those who are unable... or unwilling... to make that kind of sacrifice aren't worthy of being called ninjas."

The jounin gestured towards the engraved stone, hidden behind the trees. "The people whose names are on that monument gave up their lives for the sake of others. We honor them because they displayed what it truly takes to be a ninja; the willingness to accept any cost to help out their comrades."

Kakashi sighed. "All in all, you did very poorly today," he said, "but you worked as a team, and you showed the right kind of spirit in the end. You three pass. Meet me at the prayer bridge at 7 AM tomorrow... ninjas." Then, without so much as a gust of wind, he was gone.

Naruto uncertainly fingered his headband, and whispered, "Ninja." The word was like a huge weight being lifted from his shoulders. He was still tired, and he was still _very_ hungry, but he was a ninja, and Kakashi had praised _him_. Well, Sakura and Sasuke too, but _he'd_ been the one to sacrifice; _he'd_ been the one to show the 'right kind of spirit'. And suddenly, it didn't seem like his dream was so unattainable.

With something like a bounce in his step, Naruto started on his way back home.

* * *

The branch yielded beneath Sasuke's feet briefly before snapping back into place, and the pale boy added its elastic force to his own speed, flying into the next tree. Every motion made the bell in his pouch jingle, a bright sound totally incongruous with the darkness it created in his conscience. Naruto had just saved Sasuke's dream, even after all the day's unpleasantness. _And I just stood there like a moron and let him walk off without even thanking him,_ Sasuke thought, vaulting off another branch. _Not to mention the other things..._

Sasuke caught a glimpse of blonde hair through the trees and shouted, "Hey! Uzumaki!" He swung around a thin tree trunk and launched himself in a high arc over the trail, this time getting a clear view of the blonde, who continued walking steadily back towards Konoha. "Naruto!" Sasuke shouted as he landed on a branch and immediately leaped forward again, "Wait up!"

The blonde continued heedlessly marching along the dusty path, but Sasuke had built up plenty of momentum. Within a minute he passed Naruto, skidding to a halt just in front of the orange-clad genin. "Hold up!" he repeated, and Naruto finally stopped. "Didn't you hear me?" Sasuke asked, a bit upset that the other boy hadn't obeyed him earlier.

"I hear lots of things," Naruto replied. "Whaddaya want?"

Sasuke fought the urge to roll his eyes. Obviously Naruto had no proper idea of respect. Still, Sasuke was indebted to him, and nobody could say _Sasuke_ had been raised like a vagabond. "Look," he said, "Could I buy you a snack or something... a late lunch, maybe?"

"Oh, so I'm good enough for your food now?" Naruto asked, and Sasuke immediately sensed that he'd made some kind of misstep.

Still, there was nothing to do but go forward. "Sure," Sasuke said, hoping none of his uncertainty was showing in his voice. "I'll even take you to that place you said you liked... the _Ichiratai_, was it?"

Naruto stared at him for a long moment, then said, "I don't want anything from you." It would have been very intimidating, if his stomach hadn't chosen that precise moment to growl.

Loudly.

"I know you're hungry, Naruto, so..."

"Oh you _know_, huh?!" Naruto shouted. "Maybe 'cause you ate your _lunch_ right in front of my _face_ while I _starved_?!"

_This isn't going quite as well as I hoped,_ Sasuke thought, and said, "I understand why you might be upset..."

"You don't understand _shit_, Uchiha! You think I threw you that bell because I _like_ you? 'Cause I thought we'd be friends? _Fuck you_! I gave those bells away because I don't wanna be _near_ you! I'd rather go back to the academy than team up with you a-and Sakura, but that fuckup Kakashi went and got it all wrong!"

Sasuke was at a loss. "You wanted me to pass because you _hate_ me?" he asked.

Naruto scowled. "Anything—_anything_ would be better than bein' on a team with you two," he said. "I'd rather have Shino, or even that dog-boy Kiba. But if I kept that damn bell, I'd've had to be with one of you. And now... now I'm stuck with _both_."

"You hate us that much?"

"What goes around, Uchiha, comes around. Or don't you remember that plan you made with Sakura?"

_This is definitely going badly,_ Sasuke thought as he asked, "What are you talking about?"

"I _heard_, asshole. Your little plan... in the end, it worked out, didn't it? You and Sakura each got a bell, and I got nothin'."

Sasuke said, "Look, I didn't _mean_ that..."

"I thought you hated liars."

"I'm not lying!"

"Oh, so you lied to _Sakura_. That makes it _all_ better!"

Sasuke finally lost his temper. "What do you _want_ from me?!"

"I told you I don't want _anything_ from you, Uchiha!" Naruto shouted. "I don't want your food, I don't want your company, I don't want your lies, and I don't want your bullshit! So go to hell, asshole!"

And then he was gone, leaving behind only the growl of a very empty stomach.

Sasuke stared at the cloud of dust hanging in the air where Naruto had been, and wondered, _What the _fuck_ did I do wrong?_

* * *

A loud noise Shikamaru knew well made him pause in mid-step. The street was empty, but sounds like that didn't come from nowhere—in fact, they only came from Naruto's stomach. That meant the blonde boy was somewhere nearby, and also very hungry. Shikamaru sighed and let his curiosity get the better of him, peering into the alleys on either side of the narrow street.

The second one Shikamaru looked into turned out to hold the guy, standing doubled over with his hand against a wall for support. "Oi, Naruto!" the taller boy called.

The blonde looked up, grinning slightly. "Hey Shikamaru," he said, wobbling back and forth a little, "Couldja give me a hand?"

Shikamaru rolled his eyes, but stepped into the alley and looped one arm around Naruto's shoulders. "You sure make a lot of trouble for me," he grumbled, helping the blonde stand upright. When they staggered out of the shadowed alley and Shikamaru got a clear look at the other boy, he let out a low whistle. "Jeez, you look like you got rolled under a cart."

"Ungh," Naruto grunted, nearly falling over but catching onto Shikamaru at the last moment, "You... shoulda seen... the other guy."

"If you got this fighting your team leader, he probably looks fresh as a morning daisy," Shikamaru said, "I know mine did."

"Yeah, you're right," Naruto said, "but we passed anyway." He paused and almost doubled over again as his stomach released another deafening growl.

"Yours told you not to eat breakfast, too, huh?"

Naruto nodded, his expression rather grim. "Plus," the blonde noted, "I didn't get any lunch."

"No wonder you look so rough," Shikamaru said, starting to feel a little worried for the guy. "C'mon, I'll buy you something to eat..." then he trailed off, remembering the events surrounding the last time he'd bought Naruto a meal.

Naruto apparently remembered too, for he stared at Shikamaru, his expression wavering between nervousness and excitement. His eyes, however, were sharp with suspicion, and... but perhaps Shikamaru was imagining it... anticipation.

"Not like that," Shikamaru hastily added, "just... you know, to celebrate. I passed, too."

"So why aren't you buying lunch for Chouji?"

"That guy? Sheesh, I could _never_ afford to buy meals for him—he eats _way_ too much."

"I eat a lot of ramen, too, though..." Naruto whispered.

"I know," Shikamaru said, smirking, "That's why we're not getting it." He yanked the boy into a small restaurant on the corner. "Two of the special," he ordered, shoving Naruto down into a booth seat, "and please be quick."

"Thanks," Naruto said, toying nervously with his chopsticks.

"No problem," Shikamaru replied, "I was pretty hungry myself."

There was an awkward pause, thankfully interrupted by the prompt arrival of the food. It was plain fare: a thick layer of rice surmounted by a ton of vegetables and a few slivers of meat, drenched in an unidentifiable sauce. Still, given their condition, the boys would have eaten anything. Naruto attacked his bowl ravenously, cleaning it in mere moments. Shikamaru took his time, frowning when he noticed Naruto looking longingly at the remaining food. Sighing, Shikamaru pushed about half of what was left of his meal into Naruto's dish, and said, "You're so much trouble; I honestly don't know why I bother."

After a few more minutes, both boys had consumed everything, and Shikamaru realized he had no idea what he'd just eaten. It had filled him up well enough, though, and judging from Naruto's more relaxed posture, it had served the other boy well also. "So what do you think of your team?" Shikamaru asked, before the atmosphere could become strained again.

"They suck," Naruto said, "Sakura's always hangin' onto Sasuke, and Sasuke's a bastard."

"I thought you liked Sakura," Shikamaru commented lightly.

"Changed my mind," Naruto replied, "hard not to when she called me 'worthless' and an 'halfwit loser'. She used some other word, too... oxbonkus or somethin' like that."

"Obnoxious?" Shikamaru suggested, and the blonde nodded. "Yeah, Ino was like that, too," Shikamaru continued. "I dunno... my dad was pretty happy she was on a team with me and Chouji, but I don't think I like it. She keeps going on about how Sasuke could do a much better job than either of us."

"She should switch with me, then," Naruto said. "I bet she'd _love_ to be on a team with almighty Sasuke."

"Good idea," Shikamaru said, "we should ask."

"You think?"

"Yeah... can't do any harm just to ask, right? And who knows... maybe our senseis will even say yes."

"I bet mine will," Naruto said, his eyes narrowing. "Kakashi-sensei kept reading a perverted book all day... he'd probably love to have another girl on the team."

"Asuma-sensei's pretty cool," Shikamaru noted, "He asked me to come by his place tonight to play Go."

"Somebody new to beat up on, huh?"

"Well, you and Chouji aren't any kind of challenge," Shikamaru said, "and even my dad loses most of our matches these days. Some new competition would be very welcome."

Naruto was silent for a minute, then asked, "You really want me to switch?"

"Sure," Shikamaru said, "I'd like to have you on my team."

Naruto didn't say anything, just smiled—not like he usually did, not the broad, squinting, toothy grin that went with loudmouth idiot pranks. This smile was smaller, and left his eyes, sparkling in the afternoon light that filtered through the restaurant windows, open for the world to see.

And somehow, this smile seemed more honest than all the other ones Shikamaru had ever seen on Naruto's face.


	4. A Swap?

**EPISODE FOUR: A Swap?!**

"Good morning, everybody!" Naruto called, arriving last at the bridge, but still with several minutes to spare. Kakashi nodded approvingly and settled into his hiding place in a nearby tree, curious to see how his team interacted after the minor debacle of their genin exam. Naruto's cheerfulness relieved him, since it meant he wouldn't have to try and get everyone to work around a grudge.

Kakashi was less pleased that Sasuke and Sakura didn't seem interested in playing along. Sasuke grunted something unintelligible to Naruto, and Sakura merely looked at him in disgust for a moment before returning her attention to the Uchiha boy. Naruto didn't appear to be disturbed by this at all, but Kakashi noted to himself that he'd have to have a private discussion with Sakura about the importance of courtesy in keeping a team functioning smoothly.

As for Sasuke, he didn't appear too interested in either of his teammates. He listened to Sakura's inane babble with a distracted expression on his face, clearly paying her little attention. He kept adjusting his weapons holsters, his thoughts probably focused on training or what he might do as his first mission. Kakashi couldn't help but smirk at that thought. Their work for the village probably wouldn't start for at least another week, and when it did it wouldn't be anywhere near as glamorous as whatever Sasuke was imagining.

_My own first mission was weeding a garden,_ Kakashi remembered, _and I was pissed._ He expected his own team would have similar sentiments. Naruto, particularly, was overeager for combat; something that might change once he actually got into a lethal situation. Sakura probably wouldn't _like_ D-level missions, but her thoughts were almost certainly too focused on Sasuke for her to care _what_ she did as long as she was near him. As for the Uchiha boy, he'd resent the menial labor the most, but possessed too much pride and restraint to let his annoyance show to the other two.

_So Naruto will be the first to blow up,_ Kakashi thought. _Well, it happens to every team._ Seeing that the situation on the bridge was stable and still rather uninformative, Kakashi resigned himself to staying in this position for a while. He wished he could go visit the cenotaph instead of spying on these kids, but resolved to make it up by doubling his usual visit tomorrow.

"Hey Sakura-chan," Naruto said several minutes later, "Kakashi-sensei _did_ say to meet him here at 7AM, right?"

Even Sakura wasn't rude enough to disregard a direct question. "Yes, Naruto," she replied.

"Then why ain't he here?"

"How the hell should I know!?" she snapped, "Stop asking stupid questions, idiot!"

Naruto recoiled a few steps, then stomped off to the other end of the bridge, muttering under his breath. Relieved though he was that Sakura's attitude hadn't provoked a fight, Kakashi was concerned about how brazenly she displayed it. A scolding of some kind was definitely in order... though Kakashi hoped she wouldn't cry. He never knew what to do when women started getting emotional.

Sasuke looked rather irritated by the whole exchange, and said, "Yelling about things won't make him arrive any sooner. We simply have to wait and be patient."

"Yeah, well..." Naruto said, "when _I'm_ a jounin I'm gonna show up on time."

"And when you become a jounin you can give me a ride on your flying pig," Sasuke commented, smirking, "They should be available by then."

"Why would I wanna fly on a pig?" Naruto asked, obviously confused.

"Idiot!" Sakura shouted, "He means you'll become a jounin when pigs fly, which is _never_!"

"Oh," Naruto said, "I get it now." Then the meaning _really_ sank in and he shouted, "Hey! I did way better than either of you yesterday! So you can't talk!"

Sakura subsided, but Sasuke just said, "You got lucky, dunce."

"In a fight, luck's as good as a blade!" Naruto retorted.

"But you can't rely on it," Sasuke said, "just like we can't rely on you."

"You don't know nothin' about me!"

"I know you're a slacker who wastes all his time playing pranks instead of training, and brags about a goal he can never reach. What did I miss?"

"Why you..!"

"Shut up!" Sakura shouted. "Naruto, stop bothering Sasuke!"

"Botherin' Sasuke?" Naruto screamed. "_He's_ the one who insulted me! If he doesn't wanna get in a fight, then he shouldn't pick one!"

"Fighting _you_ would waste my time, dunce," Sasuke said. "But you're right. We should be quiet and wait for our lazy instructor."

Naruto looked like he was about to say something else, but subsided, muttering under his breath again. At this distance, Kakashi couldn't hear, but he could read lips well enough to make a guess at the mantra Naruto seemed to be repeating. He wondered, though, why Naruto would keep mumbling, "Just for today."

Kakashi thought about it for several minutes and came to the conclusion that Naruto was going to try to quit. Then he spent another hour thinking of ways to talk him out of it... a difficult proposition, given the way he was treated by his teammates. Kakashi had the sinking feeling that these arguments would start to become a daily occurrence. If so, then bland reassurances that things would get better would have to be avoided—even if they somehow managed to convince Naruto, the inevitable failure of the prediction would ruin his trust in Kakashi.

_Damn that girl,_ Kakashi thought, glaring at Sakura through the obscuring shield of leaves. _She'll make this at least twice as hard._

Kakashi realized the situation on the bridge was not going to improve, and might get worse. Naruto was beginning to fidget, and if he started talking again it would just give the other two another way to ruin their team before it really got formed. With a quick twitch of his muscles and a puff of smoke, Kakashi moved to the bridge. "Yo!" he called.

"You're late!" Sakura and Naruto yelled together.

"Sorry," Kakashi said, grinning, "A fat woman got caught in a narrow alley and I had to take the long way around."

"_**LIAR!**_"

* * *

"Excuse me, Umino-san, could I have a moment?"

Iruka looked up from the ledger he was filling out to see a pale boy with near-white eyes standing in front of his desk. He looked like a member of the Hyuuga clan, in his early teens... and a headband, which meant he was already a genin. That suggested the genius boy, Neji... he'd been one of Mizuki's students.

Suppressing a scowl at the thought of the traitor who'd nearly killed him and Naruto, Iruka nodded and said, "Certainly, Hyuuga-kun. How may I help you?"

"I was hoping I could ask you for some information about some of the recent graduates," Neji said.

"I don't see why not, Hyuuga-kun. Which ones do you want to know about?"

"Uzumaki Naruto and Uchiha..."

"Sasuke and Haruno Sakura," Iruka concluded for him, realizing exactly what was going on. "Really, if Maito-san is so interested in knowing about Hatake-san's team, he should ask me himself."

"What?" Neji looked confused for a moment, but his face quickly slid into impassivity. He shrugged and continued, "Gai-sensei called it information-gathering training, but yes, he wants to know about Hatake's team. Of course."

Iruka shook his head. "Well, I won't get you in trouble with your sensei just because I don't approve of this rivalry behavior," he said. "Still, I'm going to keep it to generalities—your skills will improve much more if you spy on them. And Hatake-san will catch you."

"Whatever," Neji replied, though he looked a little frustrated. "What _can_ you tell me?"

"Well, Sakura is a very bright student... best in her class at book-work," Iruka said, "She also has good chakra control. In terms of her physical skills, she needs significant work. As for Naruto... his physical skills are good, and his ninjutsu is passable. In all other areas he is the worst student in many years to successfully graduate. To be honest, though, his grades don't reflect his potential."

"And what about the Uchiha?"

"Sasuke?" Iruka asked, smiling. "I think you'll be very excited to eventually meet him. Like you, Hyuuga-kun, he's the best in his class—a genius. As far as I know, he doesn't have the ability to use the Sharingan, but he still possesses some very advanced skills. He'll provide quite a challenge for you one day—in what I hope will be _friendly_ sparring." Iruka used his best schoolmaster voice as he continued, "If Maito-san wishes to compete with Hatake-san, then that's no business of mine. However, if I learn that either of them is using a genin team as a proxy for their rivalry, then he will be hearing both from me and the Hokage."

Neji held up his hands. "I have no objection, Umino-san," he said, "I would refuse that sort of order anyway. There's no need to bring this to the attention of the Hokage."

"Very well," Iruka agreed, then relaxed back into a friendly smile. "Is there any other way I can help you, Hyuuga-kun?"

"No. Thank you, Umino-san."

"It was a pleasure, Hyuuga-kun."

* * *

_Thank god she's being quiet,_ Sasuke thought as he trudged back to town, dirty and sweaty from a long day of training. Sakura's unending chatter had set his nerves on edge that morning long before Naruto showed up, and then he'd gotten into that argument with the blonde. He hadn't really intended to start a fight at first, but the lingering anger from yesterday afternoon had made him unnecessarily snide. That and Sasuke had _really_ needed to blow off some steam after the irritation of what passed for conversation with Sakura.

Now, though, walking back in companionable silence, being around Sakura was... nice. Somehow, she still managed to look pretty after that workout—though in truth, she'd worked far less than her teammates. And when she was quiet like this, she was definitely easier to be around than Naruto or Kakashi.

Just as Sasuke turned to glance at those two, who'd been walking a several paces behind, Kakashi halted and raised his hand. "Hey!" he called, "Sasuke, Sakura, come back here a moment."

Sasuke glanced at Sakura, who shrugged, then turned and walked back towards their sensei. Sasuke followed a moment later, asking, "What is it?" when he reached the other three.

"Naruto just made a request I think you should know about," Kakashi said. "Naruto, please repeat what you said to me."

"Um..." Naruto mumbled, pawing the ground with his foot, "I asked... I wanna switch to team 8."

"What?" Sasuke asked, genuinely surprised. Then he remembered the angry conversation he'd had with Naruto yesterday after the 'survival training', and realized this had been inevitable.

"Just... you guys don't like me, right? And Shikamaru and I get along pretty good," Naruto explained, "and Chouji's okay with me too. So I could swap with Ino... she's your friend, right Sakura? And she likes Sasuke too, so..." He trailed off and started kicking the dirt again.

_God, another girl with a crush on me,_ Sasuke thought, _That would be a disaster._ He glanced over at Sakura, and saw that she had a frown on her face... probably from thinking about having a romantic rival. He could just imagine it now, the two of them screaming at each other all the time, and _talking_... Crap! They'd both want to _talk_ to him all the time...

"Anyway," Kakashi said, interrupting Sasuke's thoughts, "I wanted your input on this idea. Your opinions won't decide things, but I promise to take them into consideration."

For Sasuke, the answer was immediate. "I am opposed," he said quickly.

"Me too," Sakura added.

Kakashi stared at them for a moment. "Care to elaborate?" he asked calmly.

_He's not going to pay my opinion much attention if I tell him the main reason,_ Sasuke realized. He took a deep breath, resigned himself to the necessity of complimenting Naruto, and said, "I believe Naruto's skills are superior to Ino's. Swapping him out would weaken the team." He was taking a gamble, of course; he didn't actually know anything about Ino's abilities. Still, Naruto had turned out to be pretty good over the past two days, and Ino probably couldn't compete with his stamina. Sasuke hoped those observations would be enough to support his case.

The gamble failed. "Actually," Kakashi said, "from what I remember, Ino is the strongest member of her team, and was fairly highly ranked in the Academy."

"I don't get along with Ino anymore," Sakura interjected. "I said so the first day we met, remember?"

"Well, you don't get along with Naruto either, so that's neither here nor there. Sasuke, do _you_ get along with Ino?"

"I... I don't really know her," Sasuke admitted, unwilling to outright lie. He would not be like his father.

"An unknown quantity. Well, generally, I'd have to say this favors the swap," Kakashi said. "However, I have to confer with Team 8's leader, as well as Miss Ino. I may also need to speak with your parents about this, to get their opinions. And of course, the Hokage must be consulted."

"When will we find out?" Sakura asked.

"I think I should be able to tell you all the answer tomorrow afternoon at the end of training," Kakashi said, "See ya!" He vanished, leaving behind only a puff of smoke.

Sasuke glanced over at Naruto, who had started to walk off towards town. "Hey, Naruto!" he called, realizing the whole thing would go away if he could change the blonde's mind...

"Don't wanna hear it!" Naruto shouted without turning around, and flipped Sasuke the bird.

Of course, there wasn't much chance of _that_ happening.

* * *

"...so you've got to talk Kakashi out of it, alright?" Sasuke concluded, a pleading look on his face. Itachi sighed and shook his head, bemused by the rambling tale of his brother's brief, antagonistic relationship with the Uzumaki boy, and the fact that Sasuke apparently didn't want it to end.

"From what you've said so far, I would have expected you to ask for precisely the opposite thing," Itachi commented. "Besides, most boys your age would _kill_ to be on a genin team with two girls."

"Sakura's bad enough," Sasuke retorted, "she's pretty and all, but the way she keeps talking... it drives me crazy. It wouldn't be so bad if she talked about weapons, or tactics, or training, but she just goes on and on about _nothing_! And Ino's family owns a flower shop—I'll bet she talks about that _all the time_. And I never know what to say, so I'm stuck sitting there and nodding and wishing Sakura would just _shut up_!"

"All men do that," Itachi informed his brother, "It's a necessary skill for dealing with the opposite sex. Most women don't really want you to talk to them; they just want you to listen. So you smile, and nod, and keep quiet."

"But I don't _want_ to listen! At least with Naruto _I_ get to say something! Please, can't you talk to Kakashi for me?"

"Sa-chan, you backed yourself into this corner," Itachi said. "If you didn't piss Naruto off so badly, you wouldn't have this problem."

"Well, it's not my fault I get under his skin!"

"It isn't? You were peeved because he kissed you, so you treated him like trash during your genin exam. When you tried to apologize, he rejected you, and that made you angry enough to get in a pointless argument with him the next morning. Seems like he gets under your skin just as easily as you get under his."

Sasuke scowled, saying, "I thought you were on _my_ side."

Itachi sighed again, and rubbed his temples in irritation. "I _am_ on your side, Sasuke," he explained, "but you can't go through life letting others fix _your_ mistakes. That will only make you weak."

"But there's nothing I can _do_ now!"

"There's nothing _I_ can do, either. I don't know Kakashi very well—frankly, I only know him by reputation—so I'm in no place to tell him what to do with his students. Besides, he's already come and talked to father, who opposed the idea. Nothing I could say would be more convincing."

"Okay," Sasuke said, looking resigned. He turned to leave Itachi's room.

"Sa-chan," Itachi called, and his brother paused and turned. "If Naruto stays on your team, maybe you should make an effort to prevent this kind of thing from recurring."

Sasuke nodded sullenly, then continued out of the room. _What were you thinking, old woman?_ Itachi wondered, remembering what the crone had said about the red strand.

Then it occurred to him that Sasuke had talked more about Naruto in the past three days than he had about all his classmates combined in the past three years.

* * *

"Nori opposed it vehemently, you say?" the Sandaime asked, sitting cross-legged in front of a scroll. As he spoke, he moved the brush carefully, his calligraphy still smooth and beautiful despite his age. Kakashi always found it impressive that the man's body worked so well despite the vast period of history it had witnessed.

"Yes," Kakashi replied, "though I'm not sure of his real reasons. He claimed to regret failing the Yondaime's legacy, but his words seemed insincere. I'm not willing to take his opinion seriously if he's not willing to tell me the truth."

"A fair assessment," the Hokage said, studying his scroll. "Asuma, what was Inoshin's opinion?"

"Well, I'd be stretching things quite a bit if I said he _approved_ of the idea," Asuma said, his cigarette dangling from his lips as usual, "but he's not exactly _opposed_ either. Apparently, Ino has been complaining nonstop ever since she got assigned to this team." He took a long drag from his cig and continued, "And not just to Inoshin either. Shikamaru, Chouji, and I have gotten more than an earful for three days running. If they hadn't worked so well together in the genin test, I'd be all for this, if only to get rid of the little nag."

"So they _did_ function capably as a team," the Sandaime noted. "Kakashi, how well did your team work?"

"I would say poorly," Kakashi admitted. "They executed a good strategy, but only succeeded because of luck in the end. Though Naruto is ultimately the reason they passed, Sasuke and Sakura continue to antagonize and belittle him. In all honesty, I don't see things improving if he stays with the team. Sakura and Sasuke are getting along well, and at this rate he'll end up completely isolated. On the other hand, I can't say I'd expect Ino to fare any better. I think Sakura views her as a rival for Sasuke's affection."

"Young love," Asuma snorted, smoke streaming from his nostrils. "Does anything cause more trouble?"

"Kakashi," the Hokage interjected before Asuma could truly get started, "can you imagine any steps that would rectify the situation?"

Kakashi sighed, admitting, "In terms of preventing Naruto from becoming isolated... no, there's nothing. I can quell the overt acrimony, by command if need be, but I can't force them to truly accept him as a companion."

The Hokage nodded, his hand continuing the calligraphy almost as if it knew the words itself and needed no conscious direction. "We cannot command the heart," he said, "though I have often wished to have that power. With it, I might have fulfilled the Fourth's dream of having Naruto honored and loved by the villagers."

As always, Kakashi felt a pang in his heart at the mention of his former teacher. _I'm failing you, sensei,_ he thought, _we're all failing you._

"Well, I think it's clear that your team has the most critical situation, Kakashi," the Hokage said, gathering more ink on his brush. "I leave this decision in your hands. If you feel we must give up on this arrangement, I will approve it."

_Give up?_ Kakashi asked himself, and his fist clenched involuntarily. If he did, Naruto would go to a team of kids that already liked him. For once, something would be easy for the poor guy. But in the end, that wouldn't help him, because what Naruto needed was to learn how to counter the prejudice of others. By letting Naruto go, Kakashi wouldn't just be quitting for himself... he'd be helping Naruto quit, too. Could he honestly do that, after what he had promised himself, promised his dead sensei?

_No. Master,_ Kakashi decided, _I will not be so easily defeated. If there is anything to be respected in Naruto, I will help him **make** them see it._ He stood abruptly, saying, "I will send my decision in a message tomorrow morning. Please confirm that you received it sometime after noon."

The Hokage smiled, and Kakashi could tell that the old man already knew what choice he'd made. "Very well, Kakashi," he said. Then, his smile twisting into more of a wry grin, he added, "Don't be late."

Kakashi winked, knowing he would be. He had a lot to tell Obito, after all. But first, he had to figure out a way to sell his decision to Naruto, because the blonde would definitely not be pleased when he found out he was staying on Team Seven.

* * *

Iruka frowned when he recognized the man on his doorstep as Hatake Kakashi. "Don't tell me you've come to ask about Maito's team, Hatake," he said, too irritated by a long, boring day in the office to care that he was being impolite.

"Why would I ask about them?" Kakashi asked, a baffled look on what Iruka could see of his face. "I came to talk to you about Naruto. I've gotten the impression that there's some sort of... relationship between the two of you."

Iruka shrugged and stepped out of the way, beckoning Kakashi into his small apartment. "It's not very close," Iruka said, closing the door as the silver-haired jounin removed his sandals. "I try to look after his interests, and I check up on him once in a while. In truth I don't see him all that often, though I _do_ care about him. To Naruto, however, it must seem like a lot, since he doesn't have anyone else."

Kakashi nodded, sitting when Iruka indicated a chair he could use—one of the few not serving as an impromptu table for papers from the school. Graduations came and went, but the Konoha Ninja Academy held classes year-round. As soon as Iruka had waved goodbye to the last batch of students, the next batch had come in.

"I need to know the best way to get through to him... to improve his training," Kakashi explained. "I would appreciate your insight."

"Honestly, I don't know," Iruka said, taking a seat himself. He lifted the sake bottle he'd been drinking from and glanced towards the jounin, but Kakashi shook his head. Lowering the bottle, Iruka continued, "Naruto takes praise to heart too easily, so it's best to avoid it, or mix it with some deserved criticism. But criticism is a tricky thing, too. When I was harsh with him, Naruto could learn a skill quickly and near-perfectly, but he would accomplish that by neglecting everything else."

Iruka sighed, and refilled his sakazuki. "Naruto can be very stupid," he said, taking a sip of the sake, "about many things, but when he truly starts analyzing something he can be very intelligent. His emotions often cripple him, because they prevent him from thinking." He paused, then added, "At the same time, his emotions bring him great strength. You've seen his Shadow Replication?"

"Indeed. It seems to be his favorite trick."

"In the Academy, replication was his worst skill. And yet, when he had to defend me, he filled up a rather large clearing with copies of himself. There must have been at least 500... maybe even a thousand."

The jounin's visible eye widened. "Astonishing," he commented, "I would have thought 10 would be his limit, or at most 20."

Iruka swirled his sake, and said, "He achieved that because he cares for me, because he believes I care for him."

"All for love?"

"Corny as that sounds, yes. But there's something else, too... hope. The fact that I _could_ care for him gave Naruto hope that his dreams could become real, that people really could acknowledge him. If you can give him hope, then he will excel."

Kakashi nodded, saying, "I think I understand your meaning." He stood up and added, "You've certainly cleared some things up for me, Umino-san."

"Please, call me Iruka," the chuunin said, ushering Kakashi to the door. "I imagine we'll be seeing each other a good deal, if Naruto has anything to say about it."

"Probably," Kakashi said, and Iruka could almost see him smirk through his cloth mask. The tall jounin leaned forward, so that his cheek was almost touching Iruka's, and continued in a throaty voice, "You should call me Kakashi."

Pleasant shivers ran up and down Iruka's spine at the sound of that low voice in his ear, and he stammered, "Y-yes... of course..."

"Next time, maybe I'll try some of that sake," Kakashi said, then pulled away and disappeared in a puff of smoke.

"Next time..." Iruka whispered.

It was several minutes before he remembered to close the door.

* * *

"That's enough for today," Kakashi called, and the three genin members of Team 7 relaxed and dropped off the narrow poles they'd been standing on for three hours. The whole exercise had been lame, in Naruto's opinion. Stillness and balance were of course extremely important skills for a ninja to have, but he'd mastered them long ago. After all, executing a good prank often required an extended wait, and often resulted in needing to hide for a good long time. So Naruto hardly needed any more practice. Besides, stillness training was _boring_.

Then, of course, there was the company. Sasuke and Sakura had been carefully polite to him as they waited for Kakashi in the morning, and had barely spoken to him all day. Doubtless they thought they were staying on Naruto's good side by not yelling at him, but that kind of grudging tolerance was the same thing he received from most of the villagers. In its own way, it angered him more than outright insults.

As Sakura staggered against Sasuke—Naruto suspected she was faking so she'd have an excuse to touch him—Kakashi walked over towards the trio, holding a small piece of paper. "Before you go home," he said, "I should tell you that I've made a decision about Naruto's transfer request. The Hokage just sent me a note concurring with my opinion, so I think I should tell you guys..."

_Please please please!_ Naruto thought, a little thrill running through him, _Please tell me I get to be with Shikamaru!_

"...that Naruto will be staying with our team."

The giddy expectation vanished, leaving shocked disappointment behind. "But sensei!" Naruto protested, "I..."

"There will be no objections," Kakashi commanded. "The decision is made, and that closes the matter."

"Well then I quit!" Naruto shouted, "I've had enough of these guys!"

"If you quit, then Sakura and Sasuke will be demoted back to the Academy," Kakashi said evenly. "You passed the genin exam as a team. If you're no longer a team, then you cannot be genin."

_Blackmailing son of a bitch,_ Naruto cursed internally, glaring at his teammates. Both of them looked nervous, clearly understanding how little Naruto liked them.

But they didn't understand _Naruto_, so they didn't know that he _couldn't_ send them back, no matter how much he hated them. That would be treating them just like the villagers treated him: as if his hopes and dreams didn't matter—as if _he_ didn't matter. Naruto couldn't do that; he'd sworn to himself that he would _never_ do anything like that to anyone. So he hung his head and said, "Fine. I'll stay."

Then he turned and ran, away from Sasuke and Sakura and _fucking_ Kakashi, as fast and as far as he could go. Branches smacked against his face and pulled on his clothes, but he continued heedlessly. When he finally stopped, exhausted and dazed from a lack of oxygen, he collapsed at the base of a tree, panting and blinking back tears.

He nearly screamed when Kakashi appeared right in front of him, looking no worse than if he'd taken an afternoon stroll. Instead, he just gasped, "Go 'way."

"Not yet," Kakashi said, folding his legs beneath him as he sat. "I need to tell you something."

"What, that you don't give a fuck I'm miserable? I figured that out already."

"That is not..!" Kakashi growled, then took a deep breath. "That is not how I feel at all," he said in a calmer voice, "Please believe me, Naruto... if I thought granting your request would help you, I would have."

"How could it hurt to put me on a team with Shikamaru?" Naruto asked.

"Because he already likes you, Naruto. He already respects you. And if you go to that team, I'm afraid you'll never learn something that's very important."

"What?"

"How to _make_ people care about you," Kakashi said. "Think, Naruto... Sasuke and Sakura don't know... about what's inside you. They dislike you just because of the way they perceive you. If you can't change _their_ minds, how can you change the _villagers'_?"

"Well, maybe I can't!" Naruto countered, "Maybe they're always gonna hate me!"

"That doesn't sound like the guy who introduced himself three days ago."

"Well, that guy was a fuckin' idiot," Naruto said. "He thought that ninjas would acknowledge him once he became a genin... but ninjas're just like everybody else. They hate me, too."

"You're wrong," Kakashi said. "That guy had the right idea."

"Whaddaya mean?"

"That guy could become the Hokage, if he worked at it," Kakashi explained. "Naruto, I think you can become a great ninja, if you put in the effort. You have some natural talent, and a lot of determination. You make a lot of stupid decisions, but you can change that if you work hard. And I think if you _showed_ people that potential, they'd acknowledge your quality... just as I do."

"You... you really mean..."

"Yes, Naruto. That's the other reason I couldn't let you go to Asuma's team. I value you as a student, as a ninja with enormous potential, even if your expression of that potential is lousy. Asuma is a great guy, but I can't trust him with someone special like you."

Naruto felt like he was being pulled apart inside. Part of him wanted to scream with frustration, part wanted to jump for joy, and another part wanted to just run away from the hard road that Kakashi had prepared for him. Tears welled up in his eyes as the internal confusion became almost painful.

Then Naruto started sobbing in earnest as Kakashi leaned forward and squeezed his shoulder. He collapsed against his sensei, choking back a wail as the jounin wrapped a single arm around him. "I just want 'em to like me," he whispered against the man's shoulder as tears continued to spill out of his eyes despite his efforts to hold them back.

"They will," Kakashi murmured in reply. "You just have to show them who you _really_ are. Not the little boy who used to play pranks on everyone, but a ninja; Uzumaki Naruto, who's willing to put his life—and his dreams—on the line for his village and his teammates. Once you show them that, they _will_ accept you."

Naruto didn't know if that was true. But if Kakashi believed it, then maybe there was some hope that it could happen.

And if there was any hope at all, then Naruto was damn sure going to try.


	5. Love Explosion! Missions for the Leaf!

Remember that _underlined, italicized text_ denotes flashbacks. Also, be aware that this chapter (and most subsequent ones) has yaoi and het relationships.

* * *

**EPISODE FIVE: Love Explosion! Missions for the Leaf!**

It took a few moments for Naruto to realize that the banging sound he heard was someone knocking on his door. Usually that kind of noise meant that the old man upstairs had decided to hang something new on his wall, or wanted Naruto to go to sleep and stop making noise. Occasionally, it meant that the chuunin who lived next door was fucking his girlfriend. The guy wasn't much to look at, but he apparently had really muscular thighs, judging from the way his bed frame knocked against the wall. Given that Naruto could not remember ever having a single visitor, the possibility that someone wanted to enter his apartment simply didn't occur to him until he heard someone shout, "Uzumaki Naruto! Are you in there?"

Finally figuring out what had been causing all that racket, Naruto bolted across his tiny apartment, opened his door, and for a speechless moment could only think, _Whoa, Sasuke grew **a lot** last night._ Then he realized that Sasuke couldn't possibly have gotten that tall in a single evening, and started to notice the differences between this man and his teammate. The harsh lines of the face, the look in the eyes, the hair... they were all different from Sasuke.

Then Naruto realized he was staring. With a nervous laugh he said, "Um... hi?"

"Hello, Naruto-kun," the visitor said, "I'm Uchiha Itachi... Sasuke's brother. May I come in?" Hearing that voice, Naruto had the strange feeling he'd met the man before, though he couldn't remember where.

"Err... yeah... Uchiha... um, san," Naruto stammered, moving aside so the man could enter. Never having had a visitor before, he was somewhat out of his element. The fact that he'd never even been a guest in anyone _else's_ home before left him even more clueless as to what, exactly, he should be doing.

Naruto decided that he should at least offer Itachi something to eat and drink. So he pulled out one of the rickety chairs at the kitchen table for the man, then grabbed a carton of milk from the refrigerator and a bag of cookies from one of the cabinets. He unceremoniously dumped the cookies onto a plate and poured some milk into a glass, shoving both towards Itachi.

The Uchiha just stared at him for a moment, and Naruto almost kicked himself. _Stupid!_ he thought, _Grown-ups don't eat cookies and milk!_

To Naruto's surprise, however, Itachi said, "Thank you," and started to eat one of the cookies.

"Sorry," Naruto said, "I just don't get many visitors, actually I've never had any, so I don't know what I'm doin', so please forgive..."

"I understand, Naruto-kun," Itachi said, smiling slightly. "You're doing the best you can."

Naruto nodded, and took the other rickety chair, keenly aware of how dingy and dirty his single-room apartment must seem. "So, er... why're you here... Uchiha-san?" he asked after a moment.

"Call me Itachi," the man insisted, smiling slightly. "I just wanted to meet my brother's teammate," he explained.

"Well, I guess you have," Naruto said, frowning as Itachi ate another cookie. That bag had cost him three days worth of instant ramen, and he started to regret offering them to the older Uchiha. But he didn't want to make things any worse with Sasuke than they already were, so he couldn't just be rude and take the plate away.

"Not really," Itachi replied, smiling slightly, "After all, I've barely talked with you." He took a large gulp of milk. "Besides, there's something important I want to tell you."

"What?"

"Give Sasuke a chance," Itachi said. "I know you two haven't exactly started out on the right foot, but I think you two have a lot in common."

"_Really_," Naruto drawled, gesturing to his crummy apartment, "He's got his huge family, his nice house, no worries about money, and everyone we know likes him. How's that like me?"

"Because he also longs for acknowledgement, Naruto-kun," Itachi said. "Our father... he's a hard man. Sasuke has been trying to prove his worth to Father for many years, but he always gets rejected. He's stopped admitting it, perhaps even to himself, but Sasuke deeply desires for Father to recognize him as a capable ninja."

"Your dad's pretty dumb if he doesn't know Sasuke's talented," Naruto said, then blushed. He couldn't decide which was more embarrassing—insulting his guest's father, or admitting that Sasuke was skilled.

To Naruto's relief, Itachi didn't look offended. Instead, he shrugged, saying, "I agree. But I can't make Father see the truth, any more than the Sandaime can make the villagers see you for who you really are."

"Oh," Naruto whispered, feeling a little twisted up inside. The idea that Sasuke might want the same sort of thing he did was pretty weird, and it didn't sit well in Naruto's heart. He knew all too well how much it hurt to want acknowledgement and never get it.

"I'm not asking you to suddenly become Sasuke's best friend, Naruto-kun," Itachi continued, "I just want you to understand why he is the way he is—to see what you have in common."

"Well, why don't you try makin' _him_ see that?" Naruto snapped. "_He's_ the one always pickin' fights with me!"

"And you've never intentionally antagonized him?"

"What? What the fuck does that mean?"

"You've never pissed him off on purpose?" Itachi rephrased the question.

Naruto thought back to the day of the genin exam, when he'd lied to Sasuke about his reason for giving away the bells. "I guess... maybe I did..." he admitted.

"Just try to back off, is all I'm saying. If you stop getting in fights with him all the time, I think Sasuke and you could be friends."

"Alright..." Naruto said, adding, "but if he starts somethin', I'm not gonna take it lyin' down!"

"I wouldn't expect you to," Itachi said, standing up. "And I'll try to convince him to extend you the same courtesy."

"Yeah, sure."

"I mean it," Itachi insisted, crouching down slightly so that his eyes were on the blonde's level. Naruto could see the sincerity in their dark depths, so he nodded and opened the door for the Uchiha.

"Oh, before I forget... I also brought something for you."

"I don't want charity," Naruto said, bristling. He was not going to be indebted to the Uchiha clan on top of everything _else_ that was going on with Sasuke.

"It's not charity, it's a gift," Itachi replied, "for my little brother's valued teammate." He held out a small envelope, which Naruto cautiously took. "Besides," Itachi said, "I think Sasuke owes you a lunch anyway." And then he was gone, leaving behind only a few swirling leaves.

Naruto opened the envelope to find a gift certificate for dinner at the _Ichiraku_. And for the first time, he began to wonder if maybe the Uchiha clan wasn't that bad.

* * *

_That should keep him busy for a while,_ Kakashi thought as Sasuke disappeared around a bend in the road. Hopefully Naruto had chosen a reasonably distant place to do his individual training for the day—if he'd picked a spot near here Sasuke might find him almost immediately. 

Of course, Kakashi didn't _trust_ Naruto to make the wise decision, so he'd instructed Sasuke to visit Naruto's apartment in the village before searching any training areas. That detour alone would probably given the jounin the time he needed to discuss things with Sakura, as long as she didn't cry.

"Are we just going to wait for them?" Sakura asked, just as Kakashi turned towards her.

"I was thinking we could talk," he replied calmly.

"Talk? About what?"

"Do you remember what I told you during the survival test?" Kakashi asked, "After I dumped out your lunches?"

Sakura nodded, saying, "You said that people who ignore a teammate's suffering are worse than trash." She blushed, and added, "I was pretty embarrassed... I got so caught up in following your rules that..."

"That you ignored my words?" Kakashi suggested.

"What? No! I just told you..."

"I know what you said," Kakashi interjected, "and I also know what you've done. Based on the latter, it doesn't seem like you took my lesson to heart."

"Whose suffering have I been ignoring?"

"I should think that's pretty obvious."

"Naruto?" Sakura asked, a skeptical frown on her face. "I know he gets mad at us, but he's so exuberant all the time he can't possibly be..."

"Not all suffering is as obvious as a growling stomach," Kakashi said quietly. "Loneliness is a painful thing, Sakura-chan... a child who has nobody to come home to, who is ignored by adults and peers, will sometimes become noisy and make trouble. It's not that he's trying to take revenge, or that he's a delinquent at heart; there's just a certain point where even being hated and ridiculed is better than being ignored. After a while, though, the child becomes trapped... the attention he gets, though of a bad sort, is addicting. Eventually, he cannot escape; he knows only one way to get the recognition he craves—unless he discovers an alternative."

"An alternative?"

"For instance," Kakashi continued, "the child might develop skills that allow him to become part of an elite group. Seeking acknowledgement of a positive nature, he might join that group."

"Like when Naruto became a ninja..."

Kakashi nodded, saying, "Now imagine that, once he joined, the child found that his new group treated him with the same contempt as everyone else. Don't you think that might crush him, and undo all the good of his accomplishment?"

"I... I'm not sure."

"Naruto tried to leave this team, he tried to quit as a ninja, and today he didn't show up. I'd say that makes the situation pretty clear."

"...but I don't _like_ Naruto!"

"That doesn't give you a reason to ignore his suffering, or to increase it," Kakashi said. He turned away from her and looked into the forest, towards the cenotaph. "Go home, Sakura," he ordered softly. "Think about what I told you, and see if you can't come to understand Naruto's situation... and how you might at least avoid making it worse. I'm not going to tell you to do something you just can't stand to do, but I need you to come up with a way you can work with your teammate."

"What... What if I can't think of anything?" she whispered.

Kakashi turned back to her and smiled. "I'm confident you can," he replied, "After all, you're one of Konoha's smartest young ninjas!"

Sakura blushed, but beamed at him and said, "Yes, sensei! I won't disappoint you!" She turned and started to walk back to town.

_Thank god,_ Kakashi thought, _She didn't cry._

* * *

_Finally!_ Sasuke thought as he caught a glimpse of orange through the trees. Naruto hadn't shown up for the daily meeting this morning, and when Kakashi had arrived—three hours late—he'd sent Sasuke to find him. The search had already taken more than three hours itself, and though it had been frustrating, Sasuke had learned a lot. 

Primarily, Sasuke had learned that though everybody seemed to know Naruto, nobody who lived or worked near the blonde's home gave a damn about him. Though few of them had said it explicitly, they'd generally made it clear that they didn't know where Naruto was, didn't want to know, and wouldn't be too sorry if he never came back. Only the guy at the ramen stand showed any concern, but he'd just opened for lunch and couldn't help Sasuke. The rest of the shopkeepers had offered various versions of, "You're better off not finding him." When Sasuke protested that his sensei had ordered him to do it, one of the merchants—a tailor—said, "Well then he should be arrested."

After that, Sasuke decided that he'd be better off ignoring witnesses and trying to track Naruto using physical clues. Sasuke quickly realized, however, that such an approach was a lot easier in theory than in practice. Tracking a single person traveling alone in the wilderness could be difficult, but tracking a single person moving through a town of thousands was damn near impossible. Sasuke quickly lost count of the number of times he missed the trail, but he was nothing if not a fast learner. Next time he had to track someone in a town, he would know exactly what to do... at least, if it was Naruto he was tracking. The dumbass left a trail of dried paint chips wherever he went—probably some remained in his clothing from his prankster days.

Once outside of the village proper, the trail had become much easier to follow; Naruto didn't seem to be making any effort to cover his tracks. Besides, the blonde was still shedding those paint chips—a problem Sasuke hoped he'd correct before they started going on real missions. Sasuke had entered the forested training area just ten minutes ago, and he'd already reached the blonde. Ironically, he was less than a mile from where he'd started out this morning after meeting Kakashi.

"Oi, Naruto!" Sasuke shouted as he entered the small clearing. Naruto, in the midst of attacking a stout log, whipped his head around, lost his balance, and tumbled to the ground.

"Hey!" the blonde shouted, "What'd you do that for, bastard!"

"I didn't do anything, dunce," Sasuke replied, smirking, "If you can't keep your feet through a little distraction like that, you'll never be able to fight when there are shuriken whizzing around your head." Then he remembered his conversation with Itachi and bit back a comment he'd _really_ wanted to make about the Hokage keeping his feet in a fight. Instead, he added, "Kakashi sent me to find you."

"Yeah, I know," Naruto said, clambering to his feet and brushing himself off. "Took you long enough."

"Well, nobody wanted to admit..." Sasuke stopped himself again, not sure how Naruto would feel about what he'd learned that day. "Nobody wanted to tell me where you'd gone," he finally said.

"That's 'cause they were hopin' I'd gone off and died," Naruto explained nonchalantly, turning back towards the log and sliding into a battle stance. "Didja find the paint chips?"

"What?"

Naruto dug into a pocket of his jacket and held up a handful of multicolored dust. "I got tons of this stuff lyin' around my place from back when I used to paint graffiti," he explained, "Kakashi-sensei wanted me to leave a trail for you, so I picked this. He said it shouldn't be too obvious."

Sasuke stared, at once hopelessly confused and completely embarrassed. _The paint was intentional?_ he wondered, then, _Kakashi **told** him to skip today?_ The latter question was more pressing, so Sasuke asked, "Kakashi-sensei told you not to show up this morning?"

"Yeah," Naruto said, kicking the log, "Yesterday, after I ran off... he found me an' said he wanted a chance talk to Sakura-chan alone, so he told me to skip today and come out to a practice area and train by myself. Said he'd send you after me, and we could go home when you found me."

"But he sent me to bring you back..."

"No he didn't," Naruto replied, kicking the log again. He seemed unhappy with his form, so he repeated the blow at a lower speed, barely keeping his balance as he inched through the attack. "He just said to _find_ me, right?"

Sasuke blinked, remembering Kakashi's exact orders and realizing the blonde was correct. "Crap," he said, "this was just training."

"He's pretty sneaky, huh?" Naruto commented, kicking the log at full speed again. "'Course, you shoulda realized that yesterday when he blackmailed me into stayin' on this damn team."

"You didn't stay just because you hated us?" Sasuke asked.

Naruto slumped out of his attack posture and leaned against the log. "Look, about that..." he said, "I... I didn't throw you guys the bells 'cause I hated you. I... I was just pissed, y'know? I wanted you to go away, so I said that... but it wasn't true."

For a long moment, Sasuke just stared at Naruto. He wanted to ask the _real_ reason why the blonde had given up the bells, but he had the feeling that just admitting this much had been extremely difficult for his teammate. Before he demanded more answers, Sasuke really had to respond in kind. He sighed, saying, "It's okay... I did the same sort of thing earlier that day, when Sakura asked about the bells. I honestly just wanted to shut her up... I didn't really want you to fail."

"But if you'd snatched 'em, I bet you wouldn't have given me one."

"Yeah," Sasuke admitted. "I guess we're lucky that you were the one who actually got them."

"Guess so," Naruto said. He kicked the log again and added, "Look, I'm not too tired from trainin'... wanna spar a bit?"

"I guess," Sasuke said, shrugging. "Fighting you can't possibly suck any more than tracking you."

"Try sayin' that after I kick yer ass, jerk!" Naruto said, turning away from the log and settling into an defensive stance.

"Check back with me in a million years and I will," Sasuke replied, adopting an aggressive stance of his own.

"Huh?"

"That means you'll never beat me in a million years!" Sasuke snapped.

"Oh. I get it... Hey!"

And Naruto charged.

* * *

"Hey! Anybody wanna go get some ramen with me?" 

"But it's only three in the afternoon," Sakura said, staring at the blonde.

"Well, I'm fu... freakin' starvin'!"

"If you were so hungry, you should have eaten some of those peas," Sasuke interjected, setting off a small shiver at the base of Sakura's spine with his tenor voice. "That lady could not possibly have noticed a handful gone missing."

"Man, no way! I hope I never see peas again my whole life!" Naruto countered. "That mission totally sucked."

"That's the way it is at this stage," Kakashi explained, leaning against a tree with his nose in that perverted book. Not that Sakura had ever read it, of course... but the title alone was pretty suggestive, and Naruto had sworn that the few words he'd read had been so obscene they'd nearly blinded him. Given that Naruto's only original jutsus so far involved transforming into a naked woman, that was quite an indictment.

"Because you're genin," Kakashi continued, heedless of Sakura's mental criticism of his reading habits, "you're given missions that seem more like boring chores. Thus, you had to shell that lady's unusually large harvest of peas."

"Well, that sucks!" Naruto said, "We've had three missions so far and they all blew! Can't we get something more exciting?"

"Ask the Hokage," Kakashi replied, shrugging. "Well, that's enough for today," he added, snapping the book shut, "Meet tomorrow at the usual time." With a puff of smoke, he vanished.

_Would that be 7AM—when we show up—or 10AM—when **you** show up?_ Sakura sneered internally, but to the outside world all she did was sigh. "Let's go," she said.

"Sure you don't wanna have some ramen?" Naruto asked. "I know a real good place!"

_Take a hint, dumbass!_ Sakura thought, saying, "I'm _sure_, Naruto." She tried to keep the edge out of her voice as she continued, "After shelling all those peas, I haven't got any appetite."

"Oh," Naruto said, looking vaguely disappointed. "Well, I hope you get better!" he chirped, then vanished down the street, singing, "Ramen, ramen, ramen!"

Sasuke snorted quietly and said, "That guy certainly has a one-track mind."

_I'm surprised he's got any tracks at all,_ Sakura thought, and said, "Um... Sasuke-kun, could you walk me home?"

"Is your walk dangerous?"

"No," Sakura replied, "I just thought it would be nice to walk together."

For a moment that felt almost as long as Sakura's entire life up to that point, Sasuke said nothing. Then he smiled ever so slightly—more like a smirk, really—and nodded.

_**HELL YEAH!**_ Sakura thought, and smiled demurely. She tilted her head in the direction they should go and started walking, Sasuke appearing almost instantly at her side. Her heart started pounding as she led them into an alley, taking the long route to her house. The first step of her plan had succeeded.

The day Sakura had graduated from the Academy, her mother had come into her bedroom, told her that since she was going to be viewed as an adult she better know some important things, and proceeded to give her The Most Embarrassing Lecture Ever. The description of a boy's genitals hadn't been too bad, since Sakura had learned about that stuff already. It was when her mother started describing what you could do with them, how those acts could be performed safely, and—most importantly—how it _felt_ to perform them, that Sakura started wishing she could go deaf, or blind, or maybe just _die_ without learning exactly how many orgasms her father could induce in a single night. But after a few days, the embarrassment had faded and the fantasies had begun. Sakura began to imagine what it would be like to do some of those things... and she'd decided she wanted to do them with Sasuke.

She wanted the romance too, of course... that was the most important part. But Sasuke was shy with girls, and Sakura knew she would have to take the first step. If—as her mother said—all boys wanted to get a girl out of her panties, then that would be the perfect lure to pull Sasuke out of his shell. Once they started fooling around he'd definitely want to do all the romantic things, if only to keep her happy.

As she'd trained herself to do, Sakura kept her thoughts from affecting her appearance, wearing a carefree smile as she walked through several alleys, across a small stream, and into one of the town's lush public gardens. "Um, Sasuke," she said, implementing the next step of her plan, "I have a favor to ask."

"What is it?"

"Well, a few weeks ago Kakashi-sensei told me to try and understand Naruto better," she explained, "and I decided to reproduce some of his experiences."

"Oh?"

"Yeah," she continued, "I ate nothing but ramen for a whole day once, and I also played a few pranks on my parents." She giggled quietly and added, "That was actually kind of fun."

"Did they not get mad?"

"Well, they did, but I had an excuse," Sakura replied. She came to a stop underneath a willow tree. "But you see," she said, "there's one experience he had that I need your help for."

Sasuke looked slightly confused, and said, "What would you like me to do?"

"Just stand still," Sakura suggested, thinking, _This is so forward, but if it works..._ Then, without any further warning, she turned to Sasuke and kissed him.

For a moment, it was like kissing a wall. Then the tension melted out of the boy... His lips softened, his hands came up to her shoulders, and _he kissed her back_!

_**WOOHOO!**_ Sakura thought, drawing away slightly before the kiss could go any further. After all, she didn't want to move _too_ fast and seem like a floozy. To her extreme satisfaction, Sasuke was blushing just as much as she was, and the corners of his mouth were twitching into an ever-so-slightly wider smile. "Sasuke-kun..." Sakura murmured, the well-rehearsed line coming easily to her lips, "did you kiss Naruto back, too?"

"No," Sasuke said throatily, as if he'd read her script, "_you're_ the only one I would kiss like that."

Sakura wrapped her arms around Sasuke's sinewy torso and rested her head on his shoulder as his hands settled on her hips. "I don't need to go home right away," she whispered.

"Then...," Sasuke murmured, "might we try that again?"

* * *

"I see somebody we both know," Chikako commented as she caught a glimpse of a familiar head of dark hair in the crowd passing the café. 

"I noticed him, too," Itachi said, smirking as he stirred more sugar into his coffee. "I don't think we should call out to him, though."

"Oh? Why not?"

"Look who he's with," Itachi said, nodding towards his brother. The crowd thinned momentarily, and Chikako could see a pink-haired girl close by his side, her hand entwined with his.

Chikako smiled, forcing away the bittersweet feelings Sasuke always inspired. "His first girlfriend?" she asked.

"Haruno Sakura, one of his teammates," Itachi replied, nodding. "I knew this would happen the moment he started denying he liked her. We men are pretty simple, and as boys we're even simpler."

"All the more reason to tease him, don't you think?" Chikako said.

Itachi smiled and shook his head. "I want to stay out of it as long as I can," he said. "Sasuke's very attached to me... perhaps too attached. If he got the impression I disapproved of the relationship, he'd break up with that girl immediately. If he felt I wanted him to stay with her, he'd do so even if he hated her. Better to let him make his own decisions, without trying to please me."

Itachi took a long sip of his coffee and added, "Besides, it's sweet, isn't it? Young love?"

"Yes," Chikako replied, smiling as Sasuke and Sakura passed by, oblivious to their observers, "it certainly is."

Beneath the table, Itachi's hand wrapped itself around hers.

* * *

Iruka woke, sore and sticky, as the first rays of sunlight streaked through his bedroom window. _Damn, that man knows how to fuck,_ he thought, rolling over to see that his new lover had long vacated the bed. _I'm getting easy in my old age,_ he added as he gingerly rolled out off the mattress and staggered to the shower. 

The near-scalding water woke Iruka up and relaxed his muscles, easing the aches the previous night's activity had caused but not alleviating them entirely. Iruka had been (unwillingly) celibate for almost a year before yesterday, and there was simply no way a body could readapt to the stress of intercourse so quickly. He winced as an awkward step pulled on a muscle that did _not_ want to be stretched. Well, at least he'd have a while to recuperate before Kakashi returned.

Iruka chuckled at the memory of Naruto indignantly demanding a more 'amazing' mission, and the look of utter surprise on Kakashi's face when the Hokage actually granted the request. Iruka hadn't missed the pleased looks on Sasuke's and Sakura's faces, though anyone else would have been hard-pressed to see past Naruto's exultation. Like all genin, the kids were hungry for danger and excitement... not that they were likely to get it on this mission. Delivering a message to Hidden Grass village was about as dangerous as most of the D-class missions around Konoha.

That hadn't stopped Kakashi from making a big deal of it later, though. Iruka smirked as he remembered the conversation they'd had just after midnight, when he'd answered the door in his bedclothes and the jounin had barged in.

_Kakashi's masked lips brushed against the Iruka's ear as he murmured, "Carrying a message to Hidden Grass village is a dangerous, C-class mission. I might not come back." One of his hands came to rest on Iruka's hip as he added, "So, on the eve of my departure, I thought I'd share one last night of passion with my lover."_

"We're hardly lovers," Iruka retorted, "and if you want to get into **my** bed, you'll have to take me on at least two dates first... and drinking **my** sake in **my** apartment doesn't count."

"No time," Kakashi replied, his hand sneaking up under Iruka's shirt, then down into the loose boxers Iruka wore to sleep, "dangerous mission tomorrow."

"You don't waste a moment, do you?" Iruka said, suppressing a groan as the jounin's hand brushed his skin.

"Not when something I want is within my grasp."

Iruka smiled at the thought of what had happened after that. Aches and pains were a small price to pay for the incredible pleasure Kakashi had given him. Though he looked innocent, Iruka was definitely no blushing virgin, and Kakashi was easily the most proficient lover he'd ever had. Perhaps it was natural skill... or perhaps it was those perverted books Naruto kept complaining about.

Regardless, Iruka resolved that he wasn't going to fold so easily next time. Kakashi would have to take him on _three_ dates before Iruka slept with him again.

Iruka just hoped he could hold out that long.

* * *

"ice surface cracking  
as needles break its tumblers  
a foxtrap unlocks"

Ume intoned the poem quietly, her hands nervously twisting the end of her long ponytail.

Tomiko had long ago given up on breaking her of the habit, but frowned nonetheless as she said, "That's lovely, dear." Her brush moved rapidly as she recorded the syllables on a rough piece of paper, and she asked, "Does it concern the family?"

"I'm not sure," Ume replied, taking a seat next to the Lady of the clan, "I think... there are two of our family associated. Or maybe just one. The other... is hard to hold on to, like he's only partially there, or only partially human..."

"Well, I'm sure the meaning will become clear in time," Tomiko said, gently waving the strip of paper in the air to dry the ink. She would rewrite the poem on better paper later, and add it to the growing book of Ume's predictions. Not that anyone other than the pair sitting on the bench knew what it really was... Even Itachi believed it to be a book of poetry, harmless and irrelevant.

The sound of approaching voices drew Tomiko out of her momentary reverie, and she held up a warning hand so Ume would be silent. Leaning slightly, Tomiko peered through the obstructing wall of cypresses to see Itachi and his comrade Hiroshi walking towards the gate. They had their ANBU uniforms on, but their masks were pushed out of their faces for the moment.

"...anyway," Hiroshi was saying, his gravelly voice matching his rough speech, "the Baron of Waves apparently has a tasty little peach of a daughter, and the Archduke of Fire has a nephew who needs to settle down. So they banged out this deal where we get to kill a bunch of missing-nins, and then the nephew gets to bone the little bitch."

Tomiko scowled at the crude language, glancing briefly at Ume to make sure the girl would stay quiet. Ume was blushing, but subdued, so Tomiko returned her attention to the conversation.

"I'm kinda surprised you agreed to come along," Hiroshi said. "I thought you wanted a little break."

"Well, Sasuke's leaving on a mission today, so I've got nothing really holding me here," Itachi replied.

"...and that medic-nin you've been having afternoon coffee with for the past two weeks has also been assigned to this mission."

"You don't miss anything, Hiroshi."

"Comes with age."

Itachi reached out with one arm and intercepted a blur trying to pass him. "Don't leave without saying goodbye," he admonished his brother, who blushed slightly.

"Ta-chan, I'm gonna be late!" Sasuke complained as he was pulled into a rough hug.

"You can't possibly be later than Kakashi," Itachi said, releasing the boy and holding him at arm's length. His eyes narrowed, and he started adjusting the straps on Sasuke's pack. "Those will chafe if you don't keep them tight," he noted.

After a few moments, Itachi was apparently satisfied. "That'll do," he said, pulling his brother close again and kissing him on the cheek. "This time, _you're_ the one who'll have to tell _me_ all about your mission when you get back," he commented.

"I will, I promise," Sasuke said, and returned the kiss. Then he wriggled out of Itachi's arms and turned towards the exit.

"Take care of your teammates!" Itachi called, and Sasuke waved back as he passed through the gate.

"Cute kid," Hiroshi said as Sasuke jogged off down the road. "He yours?"

"'Roshi, you know I'm a virile man," Itachi replied, "but even _I_ would have found it hard to sire a son at the tender age of ten. Much as I might want Sasuke to be my child, he's just my brother."

_You're wrong,_ Tomiko thought as Itachi pulled down his mask, _You're more a parent to him than either Nori or myself. He may not have come from your loins, but in every other sense he's **your** son, not Nori's._

As Itachi and Hiroshi took off towards the eastern gate, Tomiko allowed one of the waiting tears to escape, and whispered, "nor mine."


	6. Scheming! Seduction!

**EPISODE SIX: Scheming! Seduction!**

Before she became a ninja, Sakura had spent hours every week mentally preparing herself for many hardships she expected to face. She went to the hospitals to desensitize herself to blood. She trained often to prepare herself for physical hardship. She visited the morgue so she could learn to deal with death. She even went so far as to intentionally cut herself a few times to make sure she could withstand pain. For good reason, Sakura thought she'd covered every difficulty she might encounter as a ninja.

Sakura, however, had found herself completely unprepared to deal with boredom. The mind-numbing tedium of the D-class missions back in Konoha had been terrible for an active mind like hers, and now that she and her team had finally gotten out of town on a C-class mission, they'd found it was actually worse. Now they were bored _and_ far away from home, stuck with nobody to talk to except each other. Given Kakashi's personal reticence, Naruto's annoying personality, and the fact that she couldn't say anything she really _wanted_ to say to Sasuke while the others were around, Sakura was rapidly coming to feel that the situation was unacceptable.

At least Naruto was silent, racing glumly along through the unchanging landscape. He'd been less obnoxious since the failure of the team-swapping idea, but Sakura had the itching feeling that the (relatively) quiet and polite behavior was a bad sign. Certainly he'd been boisterous enough a few days ago when she'd spotted him playing around with some of the younger kids from the village... and a bit of his natural exuberance tended to come back at the end of the day, when the mission or training were nearly over. All this made Sakura wonder if Naruto's 'good' behavior was just another, more subtle, sign of his dislike and distrust of his teammates.

Shaking her head to dispel the pointless worries, Sakura almost missed seeing Kakashi raise his hand to signal a stop. Fortunately, she was going the slowest of the four, so she was able to arrest her motion without attracting much notice. "I think we should pause for lunch," the jounin said, taking a seat on a thick limb and unslinging his pack, "We're not in too much of a hurry, after all, and we've made good time this morning."

"All right!" Naruto shouted, already digging through his backpack. Sakura rolled her eyes, but privately felt relieved that they were getting a break. Kakashi had been setting a pace that pushed the limits of her endurance without actually surpassing them. By the end of the day, she knew she would be exhausted, but Kakashi and Sasuke didn't even seem to have broken a sweat yet. Naruto, too, didn't seem to be having any problem, though the ravenous way he was devouring his field rations made it seem like he hadn't eaten in days.

"Sensei," Sakura asked, biting into a rather tasteless strip of jerky, "who's our client for this mission?"

"There isn't one," Kakashi replied, having inhaled a handful of dried fruit and replaced his mask before anyone noticed. "This mission is for village business."

"We're messengers, then?"

"Exactly," Kakashi said, nodding. "Most messages between villages go through by animal couriers. Sometimes, however, security or tradition require a personal delivery."

"So which is it now?" Naruto asked. "Are we carrying... a _secret_ message?!"

"If we were, it'd hardly be a secret any longer, the way you shout," Sasuke muttered just quietly enough that Naruto couldn't hear him. Sakura muffled her giggle behind her hand.

Kakashi, though he gave a hard look in Sasuke's direction, ignored the comment and said, "No, the Shinobi Master of Hidden Grass village already knows most of what we're going to tell him. Our visit is just a formality, to show respect."

"Kakashi-sensei, I thought the leaders of ninja villages were called Kages," Sakura commented. The subject hadn't really been covered at the Academy—the martial curriculum left little time for civics lessons.

The silver-haired jounin shook his head. "No," he explained, "that title is reserved for the leaders of the hidden villages in the Fire, Mist, Lightning, Earth, and Wind Countries. That's because the hidden villages in those countries are exceptionally powerful. Smaller villages, such as the one in the Plains Country, generally call their leaders a 'master'. That's the way it has been for hundreds of years."

"Hundreds?" Sasuke asked, "but there have been only four Hokages..."

"Well, Konoha is a relatively modern village," Kakashi said. "Until a few generations ago, the Fire Country did not have a hidden village. Instead, the land was protected by many different ninja clans, all with their own small estates. These families carried out missions on their own, and answered to the Archduke."

"It seems like that would cause problems," Sasuke noted.

"Indeed," Kakashi agreed, "it did. The clans spent almost as much time fighting each other as they did fighting for the Fire Country. The nation survived, because the shinobi of the clans were all very highly skilled. However, everyone knew that the system would fail eventually. So the man who became the First Hokage built Konoha and enticed several of the most powerful clans to relocate there and become allies. Once that happened, the smaller clans also joined."

"How'd he pull that off?" Naruto asked.

"Well, the first Hokage was very powerful, and that in itself was quite persuasive. But he helped his cause by giving some of the more reticent families powerful gifts—some material, some in the form of jutsus they could hand down in the future. The combination of threat and reward proved most useful."

"So who decided he could call himself the 'Hokage'?" Sakura asked.

"He didn't ask anyone. It's just that both he and the village were so powerful that nobody contested his taking the title of Kage. By contrast, back when the Hidden Reeds village leader declared himself the Kawakage, things turned out quite differently."

"Where's Hidden Reeds village?"

"It doesn't exist anymore. The Mizukage at that time took offense, so he went to settle matters personally."

"He knocked out a whole ninja village on his own? Cool!"

"That's the power of a true Kage," Kakashi said, "They are the strongest warriors from the strongest villages." He slid his pack on and stood, adding, "Well, that's enough chatter. Stretch a little and we'll be on our way. At this pace, we should reach the border of Plains Country sometime tomorrow."

Inwardly, Sakura groaned, but she smiled and hefted her sack along with the rest of them. Physical exertion was something she'd prepared herself for, after all.

* * *

Kakashi stifled a groan of annoyance as Sasuke and Sakura strode into the clearing ten minutes later than they should have. Doubtless the brats thought that they were disguising what they'd been up to when they were supposed to be gathering firewood, but nobody under twenty could possibly have been fooled. Their flushed skin and slightly disheveled clothing alone were enough evidence of amorous activity; Sakura's barely-suppressed grin and Sasuke's smirk were merely bonuses.

_Thank God Naruto's oblivious,_ Kakashi thought as the two lovebirds dumped their firewood near the center of camp. To tell the truth, the jounin wasn't quite certain whether the blonde had any interest in Sakura these days or not. Either way, the idea of _Sasuke_ fooling around with her would probably send the boy into a towering rage, regardless of his feelings for _her_. And Kakashi had put too much effort into the fragile peace governing his team to have that sort of thing happen now.

_I'll have to have a little talk with Sasuke, I guess,_ Kakashi decided, _He's probably the one pushing things._ The only problem would be how to get enough private time with the Uchiha to make his point. Naruto had been eagerly—though not always successfully—tackling every task Kakashi set to him in the campsite. Without the distraction of kissing a girl, he could probably gather firewood for an evening in five minutes... which might not be enough time to cover the necessary ground with Sasuke.

Kakashi resigned himself to having no real opportunity for an honest talk with the dark-haired boy until they reached Hidden Grass village. Custom would dictate that the Master receive them as guests for several days, during which time Kakashi could probably wrangle an hour or so to make it clear to Sasuke that he was getting almost obvious enough for Naruto to figure out what was up.

Of course, if that didn't work, Kakashi would have to call in the big guns. He didn't know Itachi very well—he generally avoided Uchiha clan members—but he did know that Sasuke worshipped his older brother. And if his reputation was deserved, Itachi was at least intelligent enough to figure out how dangerous the relationship with Sakura could be, if not handled delicately. Should Sasuke prove resistant to common sense, hopefully a few well-placed words from the elder Uchiha would prove efficacious in controlling his hormones.

_And if not,_ Kakashi thought, smiling grimly, _a kick in the balls ought to cool things down nicely, if only for a while._

* * *

Gaara squirmed slightly in the cramped space of the little nook, working himself into a more comfortable position against Hikaru's body. The tiny recess barely had enough room for one of them, let alone both, so Gaara ended up ensconced in the man's lap, legs draped around his waist. Gaara's arms were wrapped loosely around the visitor's chest, and he rested his head against Hikaru's shoulder. One of the man's hands gently stroked Gaara's back, but it was clear that the foreign ninja's attention was on the room beyond.

"I can't deny," the Kazekage—Gaara rarely thought of him as 'father'—was saying, "that the current Archduke's policy has seriously reduced our strength and cash flow... and the Konoha ninjas have been the primary beneficiaries of his stupidity. Still, an attack such as you describe carries a great deal of risk. If defeated, we could be in a very bad position."

"Ah," the Kazekage's visitor said, "but even if we could not destroy Konoha entirely, their weakened state would mean that your Archduke would have to rely on his own village once more, and your funding would certainly increase. Even in defeat, you would be victorious, at least in an economic sense." The man's voice was a rich baritone, and he spoke smoothly and elegantly. It was the kind of voice that could convince a person by its sound alone—not unlike Hikaru's.

The Kazekage was not immune to the influence. "An interesting way of putting it," he admitted.

The other man sensed the opening and pressed his case immediately. "Besides," he said, "I understand that you have a... special young ninja who might assure us a victory."

Gaara shuddered with anticipation at these words, knowing exactly who the foreign man meant. Shukaku stirred within him at the thought of more blood, and Gaara himself longed for an opportunity to be useful to the Kazekage. _Would father love me if I helped him become victorious?_ Gaara wondered. _Would he love me like Hikaru does?_

As if sensing Gaara's thoughts, the aforementioned man wrapped both arms around the boy and hugged him tightly, filling Gaara's mind with a haze of pleasure. He barely had the wherewithal to refocus his concentration on the two men conversing out in the Kazekage's audience chamber.

"Relying on that one is a risky proposition," the Kazekage said calmly after a few moments, and Gaara's heart fell at the reminder that his father neither loved nor trusted him. "He is difficult to control under the best of circumstances. If he were to draw out his full power, he might do as much damage to our forces as to those of Konoha."

"Still," the other man replied, "in a limited way, he might prove very useful." There was a pause, and then the speaker continued, "Just consider it... You don't need to make a decision today."

"I will confer with my advisors," the Kazekage said, "and send a messenger with my answer in two week's time, Orochimaru-san."

"As always, I am your servant," the visitor said, and retreated from the hall. The Kazekage left only a moment later, his audiences done for the day.

"Did I do well?" Gaara asked, as soon as the coast was clear. The two of them could not have been seen, of course—he'd constructed a curtain of sand in front of the nook that made it look like just another part of the wall. Although it effectively blocked sight, the curtain conducted sound very well, making it an excellent tool for spying, so long as Gaara remained silent. Gaara used the technique often, usually hiding himself somewhere in a playground. Listening to the other children's conversations taking place only inches away, he often pretended he was there in a circle of other boys, talking with his friends.

In his heart, though, Gaara knew exactly what would happen if he didn't have the sand shielding him from their view.

"You did very well," Hikaru confirmed, gently kissing Gaara's forehead, right next to the symbol of love. "You have been an admirable host."

Gaara smiled, and practically trembled with happiness. Though he could not understand precisely why, Gaara knew he would do anything to please this man, anything at all. He would not have had the strength to refuse any request, and had even tried to predict the man's wishes and fulfill them in advance. Just the previous evening, remembering something he'd overheard from one of those schoolyard conversations, Gaara had stripped naked and slipped into Hikaru's bed, offering his body for the man's pleasure.

Hikaru had calmly refused, helping Gaara back into his clothes while gently reassuring him that he'd caused no offense. This demonstration that Hikaru's affection was genuine and not the product of a deeper perversion had made Gaara's devotion even stronger, and he'd spent the night curled blissfully in the man's arms, basking in his love.

Hikaru kissed Gaara again, on the cheek this time, and the redhead sighed in happiness. The pleasure of being touched in this way, something he'd never felt before the strange ninja arrived, was clouding his senses and his reason. His awareness of the world around him was fading, hazed out by the pleasures of a gentle embrace and soft kisses. His desires, too, were fading; he wanted neither food nor drink nor blood... He longed only to stay here, feeling this warmth, until Hikaru needed him for something else. Gaara felt the wall of sand collapsing and reforming into the usual shape of the gourd, but could not bring himself to care that he might be seen now, not when there were hands stroking his back and lips brushing his cheek.

All that mattered was Hikaru.

* * *

Sakura fidgeted nervously as a tall Grass-nin led the way through the halls of the Green Labyrinth. The capital building of Hidden Grass village was a confusing tangle of twisting passages that seemed to appear, disappear, and completely rearrange themselves as the thickly-growing bamboo comprising the walls swayed in an unfelt breeze. Only moments after plunging into the maze, Sakura had already lost all sense of her location with respect to the entrance. "Sensei," she asked quietly, wishing she had Sasuke there to reassure her, "are you sure we should have left Sasuke and Naruto behind?"

"Don't worry," Kakashi replied quietly, "they're not in any danger... except from each other. Our kind hosts in this village won't harm them."

_It's not **them** I'm worried about,_ Sakura retorted mentally, but merely smiled and nodded.

"Besides," the jounin added after a few moments, "_you're_ the one I wanted to show off... the brightest young ninja in Konoha! That, and you're prettier than either of them."

Sakura giggled at that, feeling some of her nervousness evaporate. A few moments later, it reappeared in a completely different form. _Kakashi-sensei better not be having any perverted thoughts about me,_ Sakura thought darkly, maintaining her smile. She began to wish she'd never asked Naruto just how depraved their sensei's book actually was.

Sakura was jolted out of her thoughts as their guide held up a hand to stop their progress, then pulled apart one of the bamboo walls and stepped through it. The live stalks sprang back together behind him, completely obscuring the opening he'd gone through—if one had ever been there at all. Immediately, Sakura began to wonder whether he'd come back, or if they'd be left behind in this labyrinth to die.

"Don't let the situation disconcert you," Kakashi murmured as Sakura stared at the featureless expanse of bamboo. "This place was built to inspire terror and paranoia. If you control your fear, you'll find that the trick to it is really quite simple."

"What do you mean?" Sakura whispered back.

"Stop looking at the walls," Kakashi replied.

Sakura instinctively glanced down, but saw only flagstones making a narrow path through the grasses. A look upward turned out to be even less instructive—the vast arc of the roof had lanterns hanging at even intervals, and no other discernible features. Curious, she turned her eyes back towards the floor, this time scanning the dirt near the walls... and realized the answer.

"Three tiny white stones," she whispered, "right beneath the spot where he walked through."

"Excellent Sakura-chan," Kakashi murmured, his visible eye closing in a squinty smile, "I knew you could do it."

At that moment, the grasses parted again, and their guide stepped into the hall. "The Master awaits," he said, stretching out his hand to keep the bamboo bent aside. Kakashi nodded and stepped through the gap, and Sakura followed, trying not to shudder under the cold gaze of the Grass ninja.

Like the rest of the Labyrinth, the Master's hall had bamboo walls and a floor loosely paved with flagstones. The Master himself—a tall, lean man with a bored expression—sat languidly on a small boulder placed in the center of shallow pond.

"The Hokage of Konoha sends his respects to the Master of Hidden Grass village," Kakashi intoned, bowing deeply.

Sakura followed suit, noting as she did so the numerous ninjas stationed in the room. Did their allies really distrust them so much?

"We are honored to receive the famous Hatake Kakashi-san," the Master replied, nodding sharply in response to the bows. "Konoha sends its finest."

_Kakashi-sensei is known here?_ Sakura wondered, _Is he really that amazing?_

"I bring instructions concerning the upcoming examination for chuunin rank," Kakashi said, slowly drawing a scroll from an interior pocket of his vest. A Grass ninja quickly stepped forward to accept it, retreating to the side of the room where he was instantly surrounded by his comrades. Almost a minute passed as the ninjas conferred, but ultimately the ninja carried the scroll to the Master.

The tall man casually unfurled the scroll and glanced over it. "Everything appears to be as expected," he said, "this shall pose a great challenge for our genin."

"Konoha prides itself on its rigorous testing," Kakashi said, bowing again. "We hope the design meets with your approval."

"It does indeed," the Master answered, "I only hope that we can arrange an equal trial when our turn comes."

"I am certain you will not disappoint."

"I hope we fulfill your expectations," the Master said. He handed the scroll to one of the ninjas and added, "Please stay a few days as guests in our village. I feel it is wise to foster close ties with our allies whenever possible."

"We graciously accept your hospitality," Kakashi replied, bowing yet again. Sakura followed her instructor's lead.

"My ninjas will show you to your rooms," the Master said, his expression still carefully neutral.

The audience at an end, one of the Grass ninjas stepped forward and signaled for Sakura and Kakashi to follow him into the hallway. Once they had joined him, he started walking briskly in the direction opposite from their approach. Sakura noted that he skipped several possible turns and then chose one where there were two small white stones almost hidden by the bamboo on one side and three white stones on the other.

"Warn the your teammates," Kakashi whispered as they made their way out of the maze, "the Grass ninjas might try to seduce you into betraying Konoha while you are here."

Sakura nodded, but inwardly she shrugged. Sasuke would never turn his back on their home town, and Naruto didn't know any secrets worth learning. Besides, they couldn't win Sasuke's heart, or hers; not with their growing devotion for each other. And as far as Sakura was concerned, nobody—not even someone faking interest—would be able to bring themselves to seduce Naruto.

* * *

The peephole darkened momentarily, and then the door opened a sliver to reveal Sakura wearing pink button-up pajamas. Sasuke briefly wondered whether he should have changed, but it was too late to do anything about the situation _now_.

"May I come in?" he asked quietly, and Sakura nodded, opening the door wide enough for Sasuke to step through.

The moment he did, Sakura shut and locked the door, then stepped forward and hugged him. "I'm so glad you came," she whispered, "was it hard to sneak out?"

"Hmph," Sasuke snorted, returning the embrace, "Not for me." Not that he'd actually needed any skill to leave his room without alerting Naruto... the blonde went out like a light the moment his head hit the pillow. If Naruto didn't take _forever_ to get ready for bed—showering and changing, reading a scroll, then pulling on that stupid nightcap and carefully arranging all the pillows on his little mattress—Sasuke would have been here an hour earlier.

By the time Sasuke had finished processing this thought, Sakura had already pulled away from him and seized his hand. With a sharp tug, she started leading him towards the large bed in the center of her hotel room. Sasuke followed, his heart pounding as he wondered what Sakura had in store for him. He'd never been interested enough in girls to talk with Itachi about them, but after everything that Sakura had shown him on this trip, Sasuke knew he needed to have a good, long conversation with his brother.

The possibility of asking his father had briefly entered Sasuke's mind, but after a few moments of imagining what might follow, Sasuke had given up on _that_ idea.

Moments later, Sasuke found himself sitting on the bed, with Sakura in his lap. She weighed more than he expected, and Sasuke realized she'd put on some muscle on this trip, probably thanks to Kakashi-sensei's pace. Then his thought processes came to an abrupt halt as Sakura kissed him.

Sasuke wouldn't need to ask his brother about _this_, that was for sure; he'd gotten plenty of practice over the past few weeks. He cradled the back of Sakura's head in one hand and slid the other around her waist as he pressed himself against her soft, warm lips. He felt fingers on his back and knew that Sakura had slid her hands up under his shirt... something she'd only started doing two days ago.

Then Sakura pulled away, and before Sasuke could ask what she was doing, she had pulled his shirt halfway up. Being a smart boy, he realized her intentions and raised his arms so she could pull it the rest of the way off. He opened his mouth to ask why she'd done it, and she lunged forward, and then they were kissing again, only their mouths were open, and her tongue... her tongue was inside _his_ mouth, and it made him feel hot and dizzy and _very_ aware that there was only a thin layer of cloth separating his chest from hers.

And then, there was nothing. Sakura pulled back and shrugged her shoulders, and the pink fabric fell away as Sasuke realized she'd been unbuttoning her pajama top while they kissed. The pale skin of her torso came into view, along with the curve of her breasts, the pink peaks of her nipples, the taut line of her belly...

Sasuke could barely breathe as Sakura took hold of his hand, guiding it up from her hip so that it could cup her right breast. It felt like some kind of dream as Sasuke brushed his fingers across the smooth, creamy skin. Sakura shivered as his thumb stroked the rougher surface of her nipple, and Sasuke thought he'd done something wrong until she mirrored the action with her hand on his chest and a spike of pleasure shot through him.

"Oh god... Sakura..." he whispered, but Sakura interrupted him with a kiss.

"Shhh," she quietly cooed, "don't talk."

Then her mouth slid over his once more, her hands kneading his back as he continued to rub her breasts, and Sasuke could not have spoken even if he wanted to.

* * *

"Will you require any other assistance, Uchiha-san?" the young medic asked, tying down the ends of the bandage around Itachi's forearm.

"No, thank you, Kabuto-kun," Itachi replied, still cursing his carelessness. He'd expected that Hidden Mist hunter-nin to _help_ them, not shower him with needles. He'd been fooled by a trick worse than the simplest genjutsu... fallen into the same stupid trap that made illusions so powerful. It had just seemed so logical, so _obvious_ that a hunter should be chasing Zabuza that Itachi hadn't questioned it until too late. _I've grown too dependent on my eyes,_ the ANBU commander thought, _I've forgotten that not all deception is genjutsu._

"Are you sure, Uchiha-san?" the gray-haired teen pressed, drawing Itachi out of his reverie, "the cut on your face might scar..."

"I'm quite all right, thank you," Itachi retorted, though it might have been nice to get some salve on the razor-thin wound. Something about Kabuto, however, gave him the shivers... he'd never liked the guy.

Apparently sensing the finality in the words, Kabuto nodded and gathered his kit. Moments later he was headed back to the temporary base of operations set up at the edge of the clearing that had once held the 'Hidden in the Waves' village. Only smoldering embers remained of that short-lived town's buildings, and cold corpses had replaced the missing-nins who made up the vast majority of its population. Nonetheless, the mission had fallen short of its objective, partially due to Itachi's carelessness.

A faint squelching of mud alerted Itachi to Hiroshi's arrival, and he asked, "What's the damage?"

"Three injured... Kojiro got stabbed in the gut with some kind of poisoned blade. Chikako seems to have him fairly well stabilized, though, so he can stay in a nearby town to recuperate. No need to risk moving him."

"Who escaped?"

"The two wackos with the chain... they got past Kojiro after he was stabbed. Plus Zabuza and that chick in the mask."

"It was a boy," Itachi corrected, "and quite competent with needles. Remind me who we have on patrol in the nearest sector."

"Maito Gai and his genin team are patrolling the Eastern Sector right now," Hiroshi replied. "They've got a Hyuuga, as I recall."

"Good," Itachi said, "Warn them that Zabuza's headed their way. Most likely he'll head straight up the coast and try to reach Lightning Country, but he might try to sneak westward and sell himself to Hidden Rain. Waterfall probably wouldn't take him."

"On it right away," Hiroshi said.

"Tell them not to engage the enemy," Itachi added before his friend could leave. "I hear Maito's team is pretty strong, but Zabuza and that fake hunter-nin are too powerful for genin to face. Given some time, Gai could beat Zabuza, but that would leave the boy free to attack the kids—they'd be dead in minutes."

"What about the chain gang?"

"Those guys got lucky to escape. Gai could probably take them out single-handed, so they're fair game for his genin."

"Okay. And when are _we_ moving out?"

"Soon as the smoke clears," Itachi replied, and Hiroshi vanished. _I'm going to kill you, kid,_ Itachi promised, glancing down at his injured arm, _and your mentor Zabuza, too. I'm not the sort you can fool twice._

* * *

"So," Kakashi asked, appearing on the bench at Sasuke's side, "How are things going with Sakura?"

The young Uchiha glanced over at his mentor, and calmly replied, "We are getting along quite well, thank you."

"I know you are, but that's not what I mean."

"I am not certain I understand..."

Kakashi's visible eye narrowed, and he said, "Don't play me for a fool, Sasuke. You've been in her hotel room every night we've stayed here, and you're not so slow that it takes the two of you twenty minutes to gather one evening's firewood. You can, of course, continue pretending you don't know what I'm talking about, but don't imagine for a moment that it's going to deceive me."

Sasuke gulped, his mouth suddenly feeling rather dry. "What do you want to know?" he asked.

"I'm not asking for any details," Kakashi said, "and I'm not trying to be preachy either. I lost my own virginity at 11, so it's not my place to tell you guys to slow down because of your age. Still, for the sake of the team, I need to know what the situation is with the two of you. Have you gone beyond kissing?"

Sasuke smirked. "Yeah."

"Have you had anal or vaginal intercourse?"

_What is he talking about?_ Sasuke wondered.

"Judging from the confused look, I'd say 'no', but just to be clear... have you ever stuck your penis inside her body?"

Sasuke's eyes widened at the thought of doing _that_, and he dazedly shook his head. _Where would I put it,_ he wondered, _and how would it fit?_ He had a sudden vision of Sakura with his cock in her mouth, and barely suppressed a grin. _That_ would certainly keep her from talking.

"Well, that's less than I expected," Kakashi commented, "but then I'm not sure how girls your age think."

"Huh? I thought you said..."

"I never said I lost my virginity to a _girl_," Kakashi said, his visible eye curving up in a smile. "Though my situation is similar in that he was my teammate."

"You can do... that stuff... with a boy?" Sasuke asked.

"You really don't know much about all this, do you?"

Sasuke suddenly felt very stupid, and more than a little embarrassed. "Well, I didn't learn about it at the Academy," he explained, "and Itachi and I just never talked about... things you do with girls... or boys."

"And your father?"

Sasuke scowled, and snapped, "We don't talk."

"Sorry," Kakashi said, evidently sensing that he'd stumbled on a sore point. "Well, I'm no good at lecturing about this sort of thing," he continued, "so perhaps you should have a long talk with your brother when you get back. I'm sure he'll be happy to explain things."

Sasuke nodded, perfectly content with this suggestion since he'd already had the same idea.

"In the meantime," Kakashi added, "I want you to restrain yourself at least a little."

"I thought you said..."

"I said I wouldn't try to stop you because of your _age_. I have other considerations, though—namely, your teammate. If you spend all your time on your budding romance with Sakura, you won't develop any kind of relationship with Naruto. Given that he's already pretty disenchanted with both you and Sakura, that would only cause problems for the team."

Sasuke stared at the gray-haired jounin for a minute, and Kakashi sighed. "Good grief," he growled, "I'm not asking you to break things off with Sakura. I just need you take some of that time you've been using to suck on Sakura's face and spend it with Naruto. You don't have to share your deepest, darkest secrets with him, but you _do_ need to make him feel like he's part of this team. Otherwise, I get the feeling that the situation will go back to where it was when he kept trying to switch teams or quit."

_That_ got Sasuke's attention. "All right," he sighed, "If it will keep him from making trouble..."

"I knew I could count on you," Kakashi said, "You _are_ Itachi's brother, after all."

Then Kakashi was gone, and Sasuke realized he was smiling. _I'll make you proud, Itachi,_ he thought. _I'll be the best teammate I can be._

* * *

"Hey! You're one of those Leaf nins, aren't you?"

Naruto paused in his exploration of the narrow alley and turned around to see a tan boy with close-cropped brown hair, wearing a loose-fitting outfit covered with slightly curved vertical black and white stripes. His headband identified him as one of the native Hidden Grass ninjas, and was tied around his thigh.

"That's right!" Naruto replied enthusiastically, "I'm a Konoha Ninja!"

The boy smiled, and said, "Cool! Everyone's talking about you guys... I really wanted to meet one of you. What's your name?"

"I'm Uzumaki Naruto!" Naruto said, "Future Hokage of Konoha!"

"I'm Battabu Kenji," the boy said, stepping forward and holding out his hand. "I'm not interested in being Master of Hidden Grass, but I will be a jounin someday."

Naruto happily clasped the taller boy's hand and pumped it in a vigorous shake. "Your clothes look really cool," Naruto noted, peering at the strange striped pattern.

"They're for hiding," Kenji said, "c'mon, I'll show you."

Naruto nodded, then followed the boy out of the alley and through the streets of the small town until they came to an area filled with tall grass. Kenji led Naruto to the center, then said, "Just stand here for a minute and see if you can figure out where I'm going to come from."

Naruto nodded and went into a ready crouch, his senses on the alert as Kenji disappeared into the surrounding grass. For a moment, the blonde heard rustling out in the green, but then there was nothing. Naruto peered into the plants hoping to catch a glimpse of the other boy, but he couldn't see anything except the occasional flash of light in the waving grass.

Just when he was starting to worry that Kenji had played him for a fool and run off, Naruto felt a hand on his shoulder and heard the boy say, "Gotcha!"

After jumping about three feet in the air, Naruto whirled around and said, "Awesome! How'd you do that?"

"These clothes mimic the way light looks in the tall grass," Kenji explained. "If you wear these and move carefully, you can run full speed through the grass without anyone seeing you. It's a special technique of this village, but it takes some practice. You have to know how the grass moves, or you'll get caught."

"Neat," Naruto said. "So... how do we get outta these plants? I can't see shit!"

"Just walk that way," Kenji said, pointing off to his left. Naruto immediately started jogging in that direction, not really listening as Kenji added, "But be..."

The ground seemed to give way beneath Naruto's feet and suddenly he was sliding through the grass, green stalks whipping by him on either side as something slick beneath him eased his way down a narrow ravine and into a giant puddle of mud.

"...careful," he heard Kenji conclude, faintly.

Then there was a gigantic 'splort' sound, a shower of mud, and Kenji was standing next to Naruto, ankle-deep in the puddle.

"How'd you do that?"

"It's my family's special skill," Kenji explained, helping the mud-covered Naruto to his feet. "From birth, we're trained to leap long distances. Right now, I can only jump 300 yards, but when I get older, I might be able to jump up to a mile!"

"Cool! Can I learn that?"

"Probably not," Kenji replied, "Like I said, I've been training since I was a little baby and even though I'm 14 now, I can only jump a few hundred yards."

"Well, I'll try anyway when I get back to Konoha," Naruto said, then shook his head violently when a lump of mud dripped into his eye. "You know a place I can wash off?" he asked.

"There's a pool over there," Kenji said, pointing to a large, flat rock. Beneath it, a stream ran into a wide, circular depression, creating a pond with just enough current that it stayed clear. "We can dry off on that rock afterwards," Kenji suggested, trying to brush some mud off his own clothes.

Naruto immediately agreed, plunging into the cool water as soon as his legs could carry him to it. He pulled off his jacket and pants, rubbing them vigorously to get the mud off, then spread them on the large rock. Immediately he went back in the water, rinsing the last of the mud out of his hair and off his body.

As he came up from under the surface, Naruto had only a moment to breathe before he was hit with a foamy wave of water. Snorting some of the liquid out of his mouth and nose, Naruto looked over to see Kenji laughing loudly at the effect his splashing had produced. Naruto smirked and brought his hands together, producing a big spray of his own that went right up _Kenji's_ nose. The taller boy stopped laughing for a moment, and then both boys starting splashing water at each other, laughing raucously.

What seemed like hours later, Naruto pulled himself up on the rock again to see Kenji already reclining, wearing nothing but his underwear. The black-and-white suit was spread next to Naruto's stuff, leaving only a little space for Naruto himself, clad only in his boxers, to stretch out next to the Grass ninja. He accidentally bumped into Kenji as he was lying down, and the older boy's eyes opened immediately.

"Hey," Kenji said, rolling over onto his side so as to face Naruto, "You look pretty strong."

"Yes! Yes!" Naruto replied, "I _am_ strong! That's why I'm gonna be Hokage!"

Kenji smiled and rolled over some more, resting his head on Naruto's chest and draping one arm across the blonde's torso. He said nothing, merely sighing and closing his bright brown eyes. He was heavy, but the warmth of his body was pleasant after the chill of the water, and besides, Kakashi-sensei had told Team 7 to be as friendly as possible with their hosts. So Naruto just closed his eyes and soaked in the heat of the sun and Kenji's body.

As he was drifting in the semi-consciousness that comes just before a really good nap, Naruto thought he heard Kenji say, "You're really nice, Naruto. I like you."

And he thought he heard himself say, "I like you, too."


	7. Journeys

**EPISODE SEVEN: Journeys**

She'd held it as long as she could, but when she reached her room, Sakura couldn't restrain herself any longer, and burst into laughter. It started as giggles, but quickly worked up into a snorting, gasping, doubled-over cascade of mirth. She laughed for several minutes before it all died down and she sighed, leaning against the wall. Then she glanced over to the door, where Sasuke stood, looking at her like she'd gone insane.

"What was _that_ about?" Sasuke asked.

Sakura giggled again, and said, "Did you hear what Naruto said at dinner? When he was telling us about his day?"

"Yes, but I fail to see..."

"That's because you don't know! Kakashi-sensei told me that the Grass Ninjas might try to get us to betray Konoha... he said they might 'seduce' us!"

"And..."

"Don't you get it? They tried to 'seduce' Naruto! With a boy! And he didn't even figure it out! I can't decide which side was stupider!"

"You mean you knew this might happen?" Sasuke asked.

"Well yeah," Sakura said, "Kakashi-sensei mentioned it the day we arrived."

"Why didn't you tell us?"

"I didn't think it mattered," Sakura replied, now feeling a little uncertain. Why was Sasuke so hung up on this? "After all, you and I have each other, so seduction wouldn't work on us... and Naruto's too stupid to be of any use against Konoha."

"What about _him_?"

"Huh?"

"If Naruto joined Hidden Grass Village," Sasuke said, starting to pace, "he'd become a missing-nin to Konoha. The ANBU or hunter-nins would kill him at the first opportunity. And once they realized he couldn't help them, the ninjas here would certainly kick them out of this village. He'd be helpless!"

"What are you saying?"

"Betraying Konoha would be a death sentence for Naruto," Sasuke explained, and Sakura's heart skipped a beat. Sure, she didn't _like_ Naruto, but she didn't hate him so much as to want him _dead_.

"I didn't think..."

"Well you should have!" Sasuke snapped, "My brother told me to always watch out for my teammates. Naruto's too stupid to defend himself against things like seduction, so _we_ have to make sure he doesn't get in trouble! That's what it means to be on a team!"

"Oh? You've got no right to say that!" Sakura retorted, her inner self showing through. "It's not like _you've_ kept such a close eye on him!"

Sasuke's mouth opened and closed a few times. Then he turned and left the room, saying, "Well, I'm going to check up on him _now_ and make sure he doesn't do anything stupid."

"Sasuke, wait!" Sakura cried, but the door slammed shut behind the boy. She heard his footsteps disappearing down the hall. _**DAMMIT!**_ she thought, _Stupid Naruto ruins **everything**!_

* * *

"Are you leaving?" a familiar voice asked, and Naruto turned to see his new friend Kenji standing a few feet away, the white stripes of his camouflage tinged pink by the early-morning sun.

"Yeah," Naruto replied, adjusting the straps on his threadbare backpack. Like almost half his stuff, it had come from a dumpster, and so it was a little too large, and one of the less important straps was broken. It had served its purpose admirably thus far, though, and fetching it from the dumpster had freed up enough funds for Naruto to buy a day's worth of ramen and a collapsible shuriken.

"We got a new mission," Naruto explained, "This old guy and his grandson need an escort while they go through Fire Country to Wave Country. Your Master asked us to do it, since we're from Fire Country ourselves." He grinned and added, "It's my second C-class mission! I'll be Hokage before you know it, at this rate!"

Kenji smiled, too, his bright brown eyes almost glowing in the dawn light. His expression shifted to something more wistful, though, as he added, "I wish you weren't going."

"Oh? Why's that?" Naruto asked, feeling a little suspicious. Last night, he'd thought Sasuke's little tirade was completely ridiculous. As far as Naruto was concerned, Kenji was just a nice, friendly guy—there was no way he'd try to get Naruto to betray the Leaf. Hearing Kenji's comment, though, Naruto began to wonder if Sasuke might have been right.

Kenji blushed, saying, "I... uh... I can't tell you right here." He pointed to an alley next to the hotel Naruto had just exited, and asked, "Can we duck in there for a sec?"

"Sure," Naruto said, still willing to give Kenji the benefit of the doubt. Besides, the others probably wouldn't show up for at least another ten minutes... and it might be an hour before Kakashi appeared.

"Great!" Kenji said, lunging forward and grabbing Naruto's hand. The Leaf ninja had trouble keeping up as he was tugged into the narrow, shadowed lane. He blushed as he realized that Kenji still hadn't released his hand.

"So..." Naruto prompted, feeling strangely nervous. Sasuke's warnings were still echoing in his head, and he began to wonder if it had been wise to follow the Grass ninja into a darkened alley.

"I... um... You'll come back someday, right?"

"Yeah! When I'm Hokage, this'll be the first place I visit! I'll come see you!"

Kenji smiled, his hand squeezing Naruto's. "Great!" he said. "I... I really want to see you again, sometime."

"Me too!" Naruto said, then added, "I mean, I wanna see _you_ again... 'cause I see _me_ all the time."

Kenji chuckled quietly and leaned towards Naruto. "I'm glad," he murmured, "'cause... I think..." He trailed off and looked uncertain for a moment, then lunged forward and hugged Naruto briefly.

Before Naruto could say anything, Kenji had vanished, and the blonde realized his new friend had leaped away. _He likes me,_ Naruto thought as he meandered down the lane, _He wants to see me again._

As he emerged from the alley, Naruto saw Sasuke and Sakura leaving the hotel, hands entwined. "Stupid Sasuke," Naruto growled to himself, "you just wanna keep me from havin' any friends. You've got Sakura, so why've you gotta try to fuck up _my_ life?"

Naruto's teammates noticed him at that moment, and their hands flew apart as if they'd just given each other a static shock. _Jeez, how stupid do they think I am?_ Naruto wondered, but before he could say or do anything Kakashi also appeared, leading an old man and a little boy.

_Mission time!_ Naruto thought, all concerns about his teammates forgotten as he bounded across the street to meet his sensei. He'd have to leave Hidden Grass now, but someday soon he'd come back and visit.

Kenji was a really nice guy, after all.

* * *

Hikaru paused at the top of a large sand dune and closed his eyes, reaching out with his mind to find any signs of pursuit. If even one ninja of the Hidden Villages discovered the extent of his power, they might figure out what goal Hikaru had been working towards for years. The chance was remote; after all, paranoia was a hallmark of ninja life, and completely realizing his intentions would require the villages to collaborate extensively. Still, it was wise to be cautious, so Hikaru extended his senses, seeking out even the tiniest wisp of chakra in the area.

To a human eye, the desert was a dead place—sun-blasted sand interspersed with rocks that had been baked dry by years spent beneath a cloudless sky. Hikaru, however, could sense the life that teemed even in this hospitable landscape: microbes swarming in subterranean pools, tiny flowers hidden within rocklike shells that would open during the rare rains, poisonous scorpions, crafty spiders, gaunt desert mice, and cacti. He could sense no people, though, none of the unique resonance that life processes and spiritual awareness created when they coexisted in a body. Of course, he did perceive, without really trying, the echo of Gaara's power, obvious even at this distance.

Hikaru smiled ruefully as he thought of the boy who had guided him through the warrens of Hidden Sand village. He had taken such a guide in each of the villages he had visited so far, but none of them had made him feel regret like Gaara. The poor boy, tormented by a demon his own family had implanted in him, then abandoned to loneliness and pain by that same family, had desperately _needed_ the affection that Hikaru had offered. Yet even now, Gaara's memory of his visitor would be fading, a necessary precaution if Hikaru's plans were to bear fruit. No one could know of his intentions, even if they deserved to remember his visit.

Hikaru released the jutsu that allowed him to sense the chakra of others, frowning as he thought of the cruelty of the Sand ninjas. Without question, they had earned the punishment he had prepared for them, yet in this case the thought of taking vengeance didn't satisfy Hikaru's heart. Gaara reminded Hikaru too much of his own childhood loneliness and grief, before he'd found his Mother... before he'd found his calling. Gaara had lived without love before Hikaru came, and now that the traveler was leaving, he would forget having ever felt it.

_You deserve to remember happiness as you die, Gaara,_ Hikaru thought, and for a moment he contemplated returning to Hidden Sand and kidnapping the boy, taking him home. He knew, however, that the idea was unworkable, that Gaara's death was a necessary part of the plan. Because he was a ninja, he would have to perish with the rest of that bloodthirsty, power-hungry lot.

"Power-hungry..." Hikaru whispered, realizing that was the key. If one Kage had decided to try to tap the might of a demon, then surely at least one other had also succumbed to the temptation such power offered. Hikaru still had several villages to visit, and he would almost certainly find another like Gaara, a child who could understand the Sand ninja's pain, and lead him to a modicum of happiness.

_I **will** find that child,_ Hikaru swore, his fists clenching unconsciously, _and I will bring you together. You deserve at least that much relief from the torment these ninjas have put you through._

Comforted by this resolve, Hikaru folded his hands in front of his chest. Summoning the power that coursed through the very air that surrounded him, he whispered, "Embrace me, Mother... return me to your bosom."

For a moment, nothing happened, but then Hikaru felt the desert giving way beneath his feet, grains of sand slipping aside to let him pass. Within moments he had sunk to his hips, then his chest, then his chin. He opened his mouth to let the dust into his mouth, breathing it into his lungs, where it served him just as well as air.

Then, as his head disappeared beneath the surface of the Wind Country desert, Hikaru's pace truly began to pick up. He sank, passing through dirt and rock as if they were air, descending towards the glowing warmth of the lower crust.

For a while, at least, he was going home.

* * *

The mist, Sakura decided, was definitely going to ruin her hair. She'd gotten up early to prepare, so she'd look her best for Sasuke on their day off, but then that pervert Kakashi had ruined everything by insisting that they head out into the fog for training. She'd hoped to have quality time with her boyfriend while old man Tazuna made a few extra coins helping the villagers build their new bridge, but now she'd be wasting a whole day with Kakashi and _Naruto_. And the humidity was wreaking havoc on her hair, turning it into a limp, lifeless mess.

This near the border of Fire Country, the Nation of Plains actually had quite a few trees, mostly growing in clumps along the banks of the river that flowed through the tiny village. Kakashi had led the team into one of these copses, where thin tendrils of fog drifted over the roots in the cool, moist morning air. "Here," he announced as his students settled into a sullen line, "is where we will train."

"What kind of training?" Naruto asked brightly, ever enthusiastic to learn more 'incredible' things. Sakura resisted the urge to smack him for being so peppy.

"Tree climbing!" Kakashi replied with a smile.

_What?_ Sakura shrieked internally, _I'm ruining my hair for **that**?_

"But sensei! I already know how to climb trees!" Naruto protested, and Sakura couldn't help but agree.

"But can you climb them like this?" Kakashi asked, then turned on his heel and walked calmly towards one of the larger trees. When he reached it, he continued to walk, without adjusting his pace, straight up the side of the tree, then along the underside of one of the larger branches. "I intend to teach you this," he explained, dangling upside down from the branch.

"Wow! Cool!" Naruto shouted.

"It's a simple trick," Sasuke said calmly, evidently unimpressed by Kakashi's feat. "Focus your chakra on your feet, and use it to hold them to the tree. There's very little technique involved."

"Quite right," Kakashi said, "but mastering this skill requires good chakra control. That is very important for young ninjas such as yourselves. At your present skill level, you will almost always face ninjas who have more chakra than you, so you will not survive if you cannot use what you have efficiently."

"Okay!" Naruto shouted. "I'm gonna do this!"

"Since you're just starting out," Kakashi said, "you should try to take it at a run. Use a kunai to mark your progress." He dropped from the branch, flipping in midair to land on his feet. "I'll come back in a while to see how you're doing."

Sakura nodded and pulled out her kunai. _Chakra control, huh?_ she thought, eyeing the tree Kakashi had just jumped out of, _that's something I'm already good at._ She glanced at Sasuke, adding, _Now's my chance to show him what I can do!_

Sakura took a deep breath and cleared her mind, willing her spiritual energy to pool in her feet. Almost immediately, she felt her soles tingling with the power she had directed there, felt the stiff grass bend beneath her sandals as the chakra added to her grip on the ground. Taking a deep breath, Sakura charged towards the tree, using her last step off the dirt to adjust her angle so that her first step against the bole didn't send her flying across the clearing. The bark creaked beneath her feet, but didn't peel or splinter, so she continued to run until the prickly feeling started to wear off. Then she grabbed a branch and swung herself onto it, her feet dangling more than 20 yards off the ground.

With a smirk, Sakura glanced back at the other two members of her team. Naruto was lying on the ground, a bump growing on his head. He noticed her at almost the same moment that she noticed him, and said, "Wow! Sakura-chan's awesome!"

Sakura shrugged off the praise—after all, she didn't care what _Naruto_ thought of her—and scanned the area for Sasuke. It took a moment before she spotted him on a nearby tree, sitting on a branch only a few yards below her own, staring at her expressionlessly. _Oh no,_ Sakura thought, _did I make him mad by doing too well?_

But then Sasuke smirked and said, "I'm impressed, Sakura-chan... who knew you were so capable?"

As Sakura felt tingles in someplace other than her feet, she decided that ruined hair or no, this training was definitely worthwhile.

* * *

Five yards up the tree, a horizontal line had been gouged in the bark.

Naruto stared at it as he lay below, the tree's roots digging into his aching body. He had worked all day at climbing the tree like Kakashi-sensei, and he had only gotten five lousy yards.

Somewhere above him, Naruto could hear the rustling of branches as Sasuke and Sakura dashed up the trees. They'd long ago gotten too high up for Naruto to see them, and by now were probably almost reaching the top. And he... he was still stuck at the bottom.

"Yo!" Kakashi called, suddenly appearing in a burst of smoke. Naruto sat up, glaring at him. If only Kakashi had actually _explained_ how to do this, he might have had a chance at catching up. But Sakura was really smart, and Sasuke had his whole family to help, so Naruto had been too far behind from the beginning.

He was starting to think he'd never catch up.

"Sasuke, Sakura, you two come down now!" Kakashi shouted, and a moment later Naruto's teammates showed up, jumping gracefully down from their respective trees. They looked sweaty and tired, but not much the worse for wear. They had nothing like Naruto's array of bumps, bruises, and dirt stains.

"Good!" Kakashi said, "It seems like Sasuke and Sakura have learned this technique adequately. I guess that means that Naruto's still dead last."

"Well, it always takes Naruto a while to catch on," Sakura said cheerfully. "But with you helping, I'm sure he'll catch up in a month or two!"

On some level, Naruto understood that Sakura had intended this as a positive comment, but coming as it did only a few moments after hearing Kakashi-sensei use the words the blonde hated more than anything, it was too much to take. "Shut up!" he shouted, jumping to his feet despite the complaints of his overtaxed body. "I don't need anybody's help! I'll learn this myself, and I'll do it before we get the old man back to Wave Country!"

Sakura visibly flinched at the outburst, but Sasuke merely snorted. "You won't get anywhere with _that_ attitude, dunce," he drawled, smirking. "Chakra control requires a clear, focused mind... a steep order for someone who doesn't seem to have any mind at all." He straightened up his clothes and added, "I'm going back to town. Coming, Sakura?"

"Yeah," the girl replied, but then stopped. "Oh," she groaned, "I left my kunai up there."

"I'll get it," Sasuke said quickly, then dashed up her tree.

_Show-off,_ Naruto thought, turning his back on the little scene. He glared at the stupid line and formed his hands into a seal. He was about to get started when he heard Sasuke drop back onto the ground and say, "Here."

"Oh thank you, Sasuke," Sakura said, her voice dripping sweetness.

_Stupid Sasuke,_ Naruto grumbled mentally, still steaming from what the other boy had said. As he thought over Sasuke's words, however, Naruto realized that the jerk had let something slip. "A clear, focused mind, huh?" Naruto muttered, "So that's your secret." He closed his eyes and calmed himself, trying to think only about the tree, about getting up to the top. He almost lost his concentration when he felt a prickly feeling on the soles of his feet, but managed to hang on as he started running.

For a few glorious moments, Naruto felt himself scaling the tree, and thought _I'm doing it!_ At that instant, however, he felt his feet start skidding down the bark. In a move that had become almost second nature, he struck out with his kunai and twisted himself around in midair so as to land on his feet.

As he touched the ground, Naruto's exhausted legs gave out and he sat down hard on his ass. He barely noticed, however, for his eyes were focused on a fresh gash in the bark, just starting to ooze sap, three yards above his previous maximum.

"Yeah!" Naruto shouted. "See, Sasuke! I can do it!" He turned to gloat, and only then realized that all the others had already left for the village. "I'll show you," Naruto growled in the direction they'd gone, "I'm not gonna let Sasuke outdo me ever again!"

* * *

The road crossed the border of Fire Country at Kusaho village, a small town with poor defenses. Its low, thin palisade might have been ample deterrent for random bandits, but Sasuke estimated a determined ninja squad could enter the hamlet and wreaking utter havoc in a matter of seconds. Even his own team could have managed it, if they weren't saddled with the old man and the boy.

Sasuke spared their charges a sidelong glance, inwardly fuming at how long this second phase of their mission was taking. If Kakashi had just declined, he could be back at home right now, training and spending time with Itachi rather than wasting his time rehashing techniques he'd learned when he was nine. Granted, the extra practice hadn't been entirely unneeded, and the competition with Sakura (really, who could have imagined she had such fantastic control?) had been a diverting way to spend an afternoon. But otherwise he'd not benefited at all from the mission. Even worse, the old man and boy moved so slowly it would probably take another two weeks or more to cross Fire Country and get them home.

_I'll bet the old guy asks to stop,_ Sasuke thought as the little party passed through the gate into Kusaho, _even though we could still press on for two hours or so before camping._

His expectations were almost immediately fulfilled as Tazuna said, "Ah, this is a good place to spend the night, and my feet are weary. Let's stop here so we can sleep in real beds."

"Very well," Kakashi said calmly, though his eye twitched ever so slightly. Perhaps he, too was regretting taking this mission.

Naruto, standing calmly at Kakashi's side, merely shrugged. He'd been very subdued ever since the day they'd spent tree-climbing. During the day, as they trudged along effortlessly next to Tazuna and Inari, Naruto was almost completely silent. At night, he usually set himself up on the edge of their campsite, far from everyone else, and went promptly to sleep. For the only time in as long as Sasuke had known Naruto, he could close his eyes and really believe that the blonde wasn't there.

Not that Sasuke _minded_, of course... this arrangement meant that he could fool around with Sakura for a while each evening without having to worry that Naruto would notice or interrupt. Still, the discussions he'd had with Kakashi and Sakura about the blonde percolated uncomfortably in Sasuke's head during the near-silent, monotonous days of walking. He wondered if he'd gone too far that day among the trees, if he'd opened a rift in the team that wasn't going to close.

Still, Sasuke couldn't have given Naruto a hint any other way... not without injuring the blonde's pride, or losing face in front of Sakura. Hell, if Sasuke had been friendly about it, Naruto probably wouldn't have believed him.

Sasuke's musings were interrupted by the a delicate cough coming from one of the buildings. Turning towards the sound, Sasuke saw a pale-skinned man with white hair and slightly pink eyes walking out of a dilapidated restaurant. His posture was relaxed, but he was dressed in the ninja style, and a Hidden Cloud forehead protector was wrapped around his waist.

"Excuse me," the newcomer said, "but are you Hidden Leaf ninjas?"

"Yes," Kakashi said, his eyes narrowing as he tensed very slightly. Sasuke caught his sensei's change in attitude and also shifted his posture, moving his feet so that he could easily adopt a defensive stance if necessary. Naruto and Sakura, however, did nothing.

The albino also did not respond, saying, "I would like to request an escort to Wave Country."

"Why?"

"Well, I intend to catch a ship from the Wave Country to Water Country. However, the truce between our villages stipulates that I must be escorted by Leaf Ninjas while in Fire Country. I intended to send a message to Konoha tomorrow to request a chaperone, but if you are bound for your village, or for Wave Country, then it would be simpler to just join you, no?"

Kakashi relaxed slightly and nodded. "I suppose that is acceptable," he said, "and we _are_ bound for Wave Country after all. I must insist that you remain in my view at all times, but if you are amenable to this, then you may join us."

"I have no objection," the albino replied. "I suppose I should introduce myself, then. I am Nomuchi Kazuki, of Hidden-in-the-Clouds village. You are already known to me, Hatake Kakashi-san... I suppose these children are your subordinates?"

Sasuke bristled at being called a child, but kept himself outwardly calm. Reacting to the mild insult would only confirm Kazuki's opinion. To his surprise, Naruto didn't react either. Sakura looked like she was about to say something, but she was prevented from doing so by Tazuna.

"Let's save the introductions for elsewhere!" the old man interjected. "I'm parched, and my feet ache. We should trade names over sake and a solid meal."

"That place should satisfy," Kazuki replied, tilting his head towards the restaurant, "the food is passable, the sake good, and I believe they even have milk for the little ones."

Kakashi nodded, and the little troop filed out of the street and into the tiny establishment. As he stepped into the dingy building, Sasuke suppressed a sigh. This mission was miserable enough already... adding this jerk was _not_ going to improve things.

* * *

Kakashi came awake instantly, opening his eyes and tensing himself to attack without otherwise changing his position. Keeping his breathing slow and even, the jounin scanned the small clearing where the traveling party had made camp, first checking to see that the Cloud Ninja was where he should be. Seeing the albino stretched out close to the dying fire, Kakashi next checked on the old man and the kid. They, too, were where they should be; curled up in their sleeping bags only a few feet away.

In sleep, the kid looked less sullen, less drawn. During the day his expression barely wavered from a grumpy scowl that made him seem more like an old man than a boy, but in slumber the angry lines smoothed out. He looked peaceful, almost happy in the dim pre-dawn light.

Kakashi discarded the line of thought and continued to scan the clearing as best he could without moving his head. He'd planned ahead, of course, and bedded down in a spot that allowed him just such a view. So he could see that Sakura was still asleep, and Sasuke was sitting next to the campfire. He'd need a reprimand, Kakashi decided—fires were bad for night vision, and this one had apparently left Sasuke deaf to whatever noise had awakened Kakashi.

Finally Kakashi glanced over to Naruto's spot, fully expecting to see the boy there. It had become increasingly hard to wake him in the mornings the past few days, so the jounin expected to see him curled up beneath his blanket. But while the blanket appeared to have been there for a while, Naruto was just now emerging from the forest, a branch still swinging behind him.

To his credit, the blonde seemed to have realized he'd made a noise, and was crouched, completely still, a few feet from his blanket. In the pale glow of the early morning, Kakashi could see a number of bruises that hadn't been there the previous night.

_He's been training,_ Kakashi realized, and a whole number of oddities fell into sudden focus. Naruto's hard mornings, his subdued behavior, his willingness to take a sleeping spot far from the fire... a great deal made sense very quickly. Naruto had done a good job of hiding it, though; if Kakashi hadn't been more alert because of Kazuki's presence, he might never have noticed. Kakashi remembered Iruka's words—how Naruto tended to improve by focusing on one thing to the exclusion of everything else—and decided a lesson was in order for both of his male students.

"Good morning Naruto," Kakashi called, and both boys jumped. Naruto toppled out of his crouch, and Sasuke leaped to his feet, spinning around to face Kakashi so quickly that he nearly fell over, too. "It's good of you to test Sasuke's skill as a watchman," Kakashi continued, tossing aside his blanket and stretching. "I suppose it's safe to say that if you were a less friendly ninja, we would all be dead by now."

"Er..." Naruto gurgled, as Sasuke blushed in embarrassment. Kakashi noted the reaction, deciding that Naruto would be more useful in goading Sasuke on than Sakura would. Certainly Sasuke hadn't blushed when the _girl_ outdid him in training.

Kakashi stood and explained, "The fire makes us more comfortable, but it produces too much ambient light. That makes it harder for you to see enemies moving beyond the edge of camp. Additionally, it makes _you_ a much easier target for _them_, by lighting you up. Not to mention that the noise from the burning can occasionally block out other, more important noises, such as the rustling of that little branch."

Sasuke shook himself out of his embarrassment, glared at Naruto, and replied, "Yes, sensei. I'll remember."

"Good," Kakashi said, "Consider taking a position in the trees next time. It will afford you a better view." He then walked over to Naruto and helped him to his feet. Speaking so that only the blonde could hear him, he said, "You are to stop this at once."

"Stop what?" Naruto asked, trying to manage an innocent smile. He deflated when Kakashi glared at him, though, and said, "Sensei, I..."

"I know that you want to live up to my expectations, but if you overtax yourself by training every night, you'll wind up dead in a real battle."

"But..."

"Don't start," Kakashi said sharply. "I know it doesn't take much effort to trudge along behind the little kid and the old man, but now we're escorting a foreign ninja, too. He says he means no harm, and his village has a truce with ours. We cannot trust to that, however... we must be prepared for him to betray us at any moment. So unless we stop somewhere for a few days, I want you to be sleeping every moment of the night that you're not on watch. Understand?"

"Yes, sensei," Naruto replied sullenly.

Kakashi nodded and turned around. "Of course, if we _do_ stop," he added as he walked towards the campfire, "I want you to continue as before."

This time, Naruto's affirmative reply sounded much more sincere.

* * *

"I believe I've talked to you about this already," Kakashi said, as Naruto felt a hand grab his shoulder. He hadn't even gotten to the edge of the clearing before the jounin noticed him.

"It... it's not that!" Naruto protested, "I just..."

"You went to the bathroom before dinner."

"It... it's not that either," Naruto murmured, his face heating up. _Please don't make me say it,_ he thought, _It's so embarrassing..._

"Well then, what? You're not sick, are you?"

_Not that way,_ Naruto thought, steeling himself for what he was about to do. "I..." he whispered, "It's been a couple weeks since I've... you know... and I don't wanna... in my blanket..." Naruto was glad it was dark, because he was sure his face had turned purple with the shame.

"Ah," Kakashi said. "I guess you _are_ at that age... and it _would_ be inconvenient to have _that_ kind of accident out in the wilderness."

Naruto shuddered as he imagined having to explain such a thing to Sakura... or that brat Inari. He didn't even want to _think_ about what Sasuke would say if he had a wet dream.

"Well," Kakashi said, "it's okay then. But don't be too long, or I'll come get you." He released Naruto's shoulder and added, "If you want, I have something that might stimulate your imagination."

"N-n-n-no thanks!" Naruto said, waving his hands frantically in refusal, "I'll just... take care of myself." He ran into the woods before Kakashi could get any more insistent. Jerking off was one thing... reading those perverted books was something else.

Mindful of his sensei's warning, Naruto only went about a hundred yards into the woods before slumping down at the base of a tree and pulling down his pants. Despite the chilly air, he got to work, and closed his eyes so he could envision something interesting.

Naruto started by imagining Sakura, naked like some of the women he'd seen in the dirty magazine. The thought didn't thrill him at all, though, so he tried to imagine her telling him she loved him, kissing him, and doing with her hand what he was doing with his. Naruto's mind rebelled, though... the whole thing was just too implausible to satisfy even his hormone-addled mind.

Naruto tried to think of other girls he knew... Ino, Yuko, Madoka... and finally felt something stir when he imagined Hinata as the one handling him. As soon as he brought her to mind, however, her black hair grew longer, her pale skin darkened, and the tiny mounds of her breasts flattened into a harder plane of muscle. And then Naruto's mind provided a vision of Shikamaru, lying naked in Naruto's apartment, the golden afternoon sun illuminating his nude body.

Naruto's orgasm was sharp, fast, and barely pleasant. "Fuck," he gasped as he wiped his hand off on some leaves. "Fuck fuck fuck," he chanted, pulling up his pants. Tears stung his eyes, and he angrily rubbed them away, trying to regain his composure. Finally, after taking a few deep breaths, he felt calm enough to return to camp without provoking too many undesired questions.

Yet he couldn't help but ask himself, _What's **wrong** with me?_


	8. Kisses! Blood!

**EPISODE EIGHT: Kisses! Blood!**

"I believe we'll reach Kokawa village tomorrow," Kakashi said, stoking the campfire.

"Ah, excellent. I should be just in time to help them design and build their bridge," Tazuna said, smiling. "A week or so of work should put us over the top."

Kakashi glanced towards his students and saw Naruto looking back with a nervous grin of anticipation. He clearly hadn't forgotten what Kakashi had said a few days before. The jounin smiled and said, "Well, then I guess I should assign duties for our stay. Since Tazuna-san is our client, I will guard him personally. Sakura-chan, you look after Inari-kun." Sakura smiled sweetly at the boy, who glared back at her.

"And someone must take the dangerous duty of guarding our foreign guest," Kakashi continued, smiling at Kazuki to make it seem like a joke. The Cloud Nin looked up briefly from polishing his sword—a long, straight design unlike anything Kakashi had seen before—and shrugged. "I think Sasuke should be the one for this duty." The Uchiha did not have a huge reaction, but Kakashi could tell he was fighting back a smile.

"So that leaves Naruto," Kakashi said. "I think he should spend the time doing some training."

"YES!" Naruto shouted. "I'm gonna become the _best_ at tree-climbing!"

"Idiot," someone said in a high voice, and Kakashi almost started to reprimand Sakura before he realized that it was the little kid who had spoken. "Weak people are always killed by strong ones," Inari continued, "those who try to change that fact are just stupid."

"I'm not weak!" Naruto shouted back. "I'll show you... I'm gonna become Hokage some day!"

"You're just going to die," Inari retorted, then clambered out of his grandfather's lap and walked away from the circle of firelight. Kakashi nodded at Sakura, then tilted his head in the boy's direction. She nodded and stood, following the kid into the darkness.

"Ah," Tazuna said, seeing Naruto's red, angry face, "You must forgive Inari-kun. He's had a hard time. His father died just after he was born, and his life since has been cursed with sadness."

"A few years back, Inari developed a fatherly relationship with a fisherman," Tazuna continued as the anger drained from Naruto's expression, "my daughter's second husband. That man's name was Kaiza—a strong, brave man respected by the whole village. But he also died... killed by an evil merchant named Gatou, who tried to put the whole Nation of Waves under his thumb."

"I have heard of this Gatou," Kazuki said, tucking away his polishing rag and sliding the strange sword into its scabbard. "He is a very powerful businessman and criminal."

"_Was_ a very powerful businessman and criminal," Tazuna corrected. "A strong ninja named Zabuza came to our country and killed him for us. We believed we were saved, but things went wrong. This ninja was an even worse man than Gatou, and he gathered other evil ninjas to him. They came through the country, raping and looting, and killed Inari's mother."

_Momochi Zabuza, huh?_ Kakashi thought, _I didn't know he'd struck out on his own._ "Yet you plan on returning to Wave Country," he commented.

"Well, the feudal lord has a plan to get rid of the evil ninjas already in the country. But I think we will fall victim to a similar plague in the future if we do not found a true Hidden Village of our own. Sadly, our economy is very bad, even though we have much better harbors than Fire Country. I have been working out in the mainland to gather money so that we can complete a bridge between Wave Country and Fire Country. Goods from Fire Country can then cross the bridge and leave by our ports—improving the economy, and allowing us to afford a ninja village of our own. At the very least we would gain enough money to hire Leaf Ninjas to protect us."

"A sound plan," Kazuki said, nodding sagely. "A strong economy will solve many problems."

"But not all," the bridge-builder replied. "Losing Kaiza and his mother has put a lock on Inari's heart. He does not stop frowning except to weep, and he has lost all courage. I fear he will have an unhappy life... and if he loses me, well... I am not a young man. I can only hope that once I have a chance to truly focus my attention on him, things will get better. After this bridge is completed, perhaps I can help him heal."

* * *

"You might as well come down and sit like a normal person," Kazuki called, waving his sakazuki in Sasuke's general direction. "The old man will be at work for at least three more hours, and I'm not about to run off... not with this much sake in me, at any rate."

Sasuke shifted his weight slightly as he crouched on the edge of the bar's roof. He'd selected the spot an hour ago because it gave a good view of both the street and the open-air seating area where the foreign ninja had ensconced himself. His well-trained body was not suffering from his long stay in the relatively uncomfortable position, but watching the albino drink was boring duty, no matter how much Kakashi had played it up earlier. Sasuke briefly cursed himself for not being able to put aside his pride long enough to suggest Naruto for the 'dangerous' duty, then glanced at Kazuki again.

"Seriously," the man said, his eyes slightly unfocused, "It can't be any fun just sitting up there. Come on down... have a drink." When Sasuke narrowed his eyes, Kazuki sighed and added, "Not _alcohol_... have some juice, or whatever it is you Leaf kids drink."

Sasuke shrugged, vaulted lightly from the roof, caromed off a few tables, and landed comfortably in the chair beside Kazuki.

"Not bad," the man said, and drained his sakazuki. "Not that I'd expect any less from an Uchiha," he added with a small belch.

"You know of my family?" Sasuke asked quietly, keeping calm as he tensed to jump away. Sometimes ninjas bore grudges... it wasn't unusual for young genin to be killed by enemies their elder relatives had made.

"Who doesn't?" Kazuki replied, sloshing more sake into his cup. "Byakugan and Sharingan... Hyuuga and Uchiha... Konoha is known throughout the world for the eyes of its two greatest families."

"Really."

"Oh yes... the power of the Sharingan is widely feared. Our own assassin's books include your sensei, Sharingan Kakashi, as a man to be avoided, even though he is not of the Uchiha blood. But, of course, _I_ had no choice."

_**Sharingan** Kakashi?_ Sasuke thought, fighting hard to suppress any outward signs of his surprise. _How did someone outside the clan come to have it?_

"Of course, the warriors of the Uchiha are even more feared than he," Kazuki continued, apparently heedless of Sasuke's reaction. "Tell me, do you know your relative Itachi?"

"Yes..." Sasuke replied vaguely, still not sure of Kazuki's intentions. Not that the man could do much while drunk, but Sasuke kept the danger of grudges in mind.

"Now _there's_ a man who changes history," the albino said, taking a deep pull from his sakazuki. "Few missing-nin dare to attract the notice of Konoha these days, and almost none will risk even entering Fire Country, they fear him so much. It's said he's killed hundreds of A- and S-class missing nins... and I can believe it. Three years ago I chased an S-class nin into Fire Country, where he'd set a trap. He slaughtered my team, and I would have joined them if your kinsman hadn't shown up. He killed the bastard in two moves."

Sasuke again had to suppress a reaction, this time fighting down a smile of pride. _That's my Ta-chan,_ he thought, _the best ninja in the world._

"So do you know Itachi well?" Kazuki asked.

Sasuke thought for a moment, and decided there wouldn't be any harm in telling the truth. "Actually, he's my brother," he admitted.

"Ah... then your prowess is even less of a surprise," the Cloud nin said, and slurped down some more booze. "I must say, I should like to see it again..."

"What?"

"The Sharingan," Kazuki explained. "It is terrifying, but... beautiful, in its own way. Could you..."

"Ah, well..."

"I understand, it can be dangerous to reveal such a technique to someone who might be an enemy..."

"No, it's not that I don't trust you as a guest..."

"...or perhaps you lack your brother's gift."

Sasuke could not suppress the scowl that imposed itself on his features.

"Ah," Kazuki said, leaning back in his chair, "so I'm right. You don't have the Sharingan."

Sasuke said nothing.

The albino sipped from his sakazuki again and said, "There's no shame in it... not inheriting your family's bloodline talent. I should know." He tried to pour more sake into his cup, but the bottle was apparently empty. He signaled the bartender and continued, "I come from the Ryouken clan... a family not well known outside of Lightning Country. Our bloodline skill allows us to track anyone—and to know all their skills and powers—so long as we have a taste of their blood. It is not a terrifying skill, to be sure, but it has made us very useful to our country over the years."

The bartender arrived and set a new bottle of sake down on the table, snatching away the empty one. He frowned at Sasuke, then sauntered away as Kazuki poured himself a refill. "Sadly," the albino continued, "I never showed any signs of possessing the skill as a child. A year before I made genin, my father disowned me, and I was forced to live off of charity until I became a full ninja."

"That's not very reassuring," Sasuke commented.

"I'm not finished," Kazuki retorted. He swallowed a mouthful of sake and said, "It turned out, however, that I had gained more than I lost. I did not seem to have my family's bloodline skill, true, but I was the first of a new generation... the possessor of a new and unique bloodline skill. And later on, I even developed the ability to use my family's original bloodline talent."

"And did your father then accept you?"

"In a way," Kazuki replied, putting his feet up on the table. "We never resolved _all_ our differences, but we had a kind of reconciliation. I think of him often, and these days I feel he's always with me."

"Ah," Sasuke said. Then he let his curiosity get the better of him, and asked, "So what new skill did you possess?"

Kazuki smiled. "Now that," he said, "would be telling." For just a moment, his eyes locked onto Sasuke's, and then he returned his attention to the sake bottle.

Sasuke, for his part, tried not to shudder. He could not shake the feeling that the albino had just sized him up like a piece of meat. And he knew, without really understanding how, that despite the amount of sake he'd consumed, Kazuki was far from drunk.

* * *

Someone was shaking him.

"Jus' 'nother fi' min't's 'Kash'-sensei," Naruto muttered, rolling over to bury his face in his pillow. Instead, his face was suddenly drenched with cold water. Spluttering, he sat up to see that he'd rolled into a patch of dewy grass. _Musta slept outside,_ Naruto thought. It wasn't exactly unusual for him to wake up in the middle of a forest; it happened about once a week back in Konoha, when he'd train long into the dark hours and just wear himself out.

Having someone wake him up, however, was definitely unusual.

"You shouldn't sleep out in the open," an alto voice chided, and Naruto turned towards it to see the most beautiful girl in the world. Naruto drank in the sight of her angular face, thin lips, and long, inky-black hair. She had small breasts—in fact, loose as her clothes were, he couldn't discern their shape at all. She was beautiful, but not too feminine, and that hair... it looked just like Shikamaru's had on that afternoon, after he'd pulled it out of his topknot...

Naruto finally realized that he was staring, and laughed nervously, scratching the back of his head. "S'all right," he said, "I'm used to wakin' up like this."

"You sleep in the woods all the time?" the newcomer asked, kneeling next to him. "Why?"

"Training!" Naruto explained, smiling. He pointed to his headband and continued, "See? I'm a Konoha ninja!"

"You train until you fall asleep in the woods? Isn't there anyone who looks after you?"

"I look after myself," Naruto replied, his cheeriness fading. Not wanting to talk or think about his orphaned status, he changed the subject. "Why are you out so early, miss?"

The girl smiled and held out a little basket full of newly-picked plants. "I'm gathering medicinal herbs," she explained.

"Oh! Oh! I can help with that!" Naruto said, grinning at the prospect of getting on this beautiful girl's good side.

"Would you?" the girl asked, showing him one of the plants—a single stem with five oval leaves. "I'm looking for a few more of these."

"Okay! I'm gonna do it!" Naruto shouted, then started scouring the clearing for the herbs. It took him only a few minutes to round up about ten of the small plants, which he held out for the girl to take.

"Thank you," she said, smiling demurely. "How much do I owe you for this sort of mission?"

"Oh, it's free," Naruto said, "'cause you're so pretty."

"Well, thank you... er..."

"Naruto! Uzumaki Naruto at your service!"

The girl smiled, then leaned forward and kissed Naruto on the cheek. "You Leaf ninjas are very helpful, Uzumaki Naruto," she noted as Naruto blushed furiously. Her position allowed Naruto a glimpse inside her kimono—where he saw a bare, masculine chest.

"My name is Haku," the 'young woman' said, "and, by the way, I'm a boy."

"I know," Naruto whispered, suddenly feeling hot and a little dizzy, "You're still pretty."

"And you're very sweet," Haku replied, smiling slightly. Turning gracefully, he sauntered out of the clearing, glancing back just before he entered the shadows of the trees. "I hope I meet you again, Uzumaki Naruto," he called.

Naruto tried to reply, but his mouth was too dry despite the morning mist. He could only sit and stare as Haku disappeared beneath the trees.

And that was how Sasuke found him several minutes later.

* * *

Sasuke cursed himself for a fool as he strode through the forest, the taste of Sakura's lips still lingering on his own. _I should just turn around right now,_ he thought, nimbly scampering over a large, exposed root. He had no orders to be out here, searching for that dunce in the morning mist. Kakashi had relieved him of 'Kazuki duty' and simply told him to take the day off. And Sakura, her rumpled pajamas unbuttoned _just_ enough to allow a glimpse of her breasts, had clearly wanted to take his good morning kiss further.

But Sasuke had remembered his promise to his sensei and himself to be a good teammate for Naruto, who apparently disliked him so much that he didn't even come to sleep in their shared hotel room anymore. Worried that another team-swap episode was around the corner, and feeling slightly guilty for pissing the guy off—however he'd done that—Sasuke made his apologies and headed for the woods, to Sakura's obvious disappointment.

In a way, though, Sasuke felt relieved that he had an excuse to leave her. Ever since his talk with Kakashi, he'd started to feel that Sakura was moving too fast, pushing towards some goal he didn't understand. He barely had time to recognize and appreciate each new part of herself that she showed him before she hustled him along to the next. In all his life he'd never seen a naked person other than his brother and himself, yet Sakura seemed determined to completely unveil herself for him, sooner rather than later.

It didn't help that he was in uncharted waters. Sasuke had always maintained his cool demeanor by completely understanding whatever situation he was in. Alien, unfamiliar things—like the curve of Sakura's breasts and the soft flesh of her hips—left Sasuke flustered and confused. He didn't know what he was doing, and that made him decidedly uncomfortable. Sasuke _enjoyed_ kissing Sakura, and hugging her, and just _being_ with her—as long as she didn't talk too much—but she just kept pushing things further and further into territory he wasn't sure he wanted to explore. Nonetheless, his body urged him to accept her lead, and though his mind rebelled, it couldn't come up with a good way to tell her to stop.

Sasuke's musings were interrupted as he spotted a girl walking through the forest, carrying a small wicker basket full of herbs. He adjusted his course to intercept hers and came to an abrupt halt barely a foot in front of her. Oddly, the girl did not flinch, merely raising her gaze to meet his.

"Excuse me, miss," Sasuke said, sliding effortlessly into the etiquette his family expected of him, "but have you seen a blonde boy, about my age, in the forest this morning?"

The girl smiled and said, "Why yes I did. Uzumaki Naruto?" Sasuke nodded and the girl continued, "He helped me gather these herbs. Are you a friend of his?"

"Yes, miss," Sasuke replied, "Could you tell me where he is?"

"Unless he's gone already, in a clearing about a hundred yards behind me."

"Thank you, miss," Sasuke said, and started to sidestep the girl, but found to his surprise that she had already moved to the side of the little trail. He blinked, then strode off towards the clearing the girl had indicated. He glanced back after a moment, but the girl had already gone.

Sasuke halted, his eyes narrowing with suspicion. The girl had crossed the trail so fast he hadn't realized it, and now she'd vanished into the forest in just a few seconds. The mist had certainly helped her in that feat, but all the same she was fast... far too fast to just be some future housewife out gathering herbs on a calm morning. And she had definitely run into Naruto.

Sasuke broke into a run. Speed and an uncanny ability to disappear didn't make someone a ninja, but they weren't bad indicators of skill either. It would require an almost absurd string of coincidences, but if she were a ninja, and an enemy, and had some kind of reason to attack this particular team, then Naruto might be in danger.

_Not that I'd miss the dunce,_ Sasuke thought, _but I **did** promise to be a good teammate._

Mere moments later, Sasuke burst into the clearing to find Naruto staring into the distance and wearing a goofy grin. Seeing that idiotic expression on the blonde's face after Sasuke had been almost-sort-of-somewhat worried about him brought the older boy's earlier annoyance back in full force. "What are you staring at, moron?" he asked in an acid voice.

"Nothin'," Naruto replied defensively. Then he seemed to realize who had spoken, jumped to his feet, and shouted, "What the hell are you doin' out here?"

"I'm looking for _you_, since you're apparently too good to share a hotel room with me."

"Wha?" Naruto asked, openly confused. "Whaddaya mean?"

"You haven't slept in our room for the last three nights. If I didn't think you were too stupid to die, I might be worried about you."

"Oh... hehehe," Naruto said, scratching his head. "Well, I've been training!"

"Training?"

"Yup yup! I climb trees real good now!"

Sasuke snorted, remembering Naruto's pathetic showing the first day Kakashi introduced tree walking. For the blonde, 'real good' might mean anything from scaling a tree entirely to reaching the first branch. Still... he couldn't resist finding out his teammate's capabilities. "Well, why don't you show me?" he said, smirking. "I'll take that tree," he added, pointing out an enormous pine at one end of the clearing.

"And I'll take that one!" Naruto concluded, pointing out an equally tall tree several yards away from the first one.

"Sure you don't want that little oak over there?" Sasuke needled.

"Shut up, bastard!" Naruto shouted. "I'll show you!"

"Well then... go!"

Sasuke cleared his mind and formed the seal of the tiger, then started running. His feet clung to the tree perfectly, the chakra hold just strong enough to keep him in place for the brief moment of contact. Sasuke kept up a blistering pace as he charged up the wide bole, going just slow enough that he didn't crash into any limbs by accident. In less than a minute he reached the top, and looked over to Naruto's tree.

No Naruto.

Sasuke glanced towards the ground, fully expecting to see the blonde rolling on the wet grass and cursing, but Naruto wasn't there, either. Confused, Sasuke peered at the tree, trying fruitlessly to penetrate the thick shield of needles with his gaze.

Finally, after almost three minutes, Naruto emerged at the highest level of the tree, moving along in an odd slouching half-walk, half-jog, with his hands thrust in his pockets. He pulled one hand free, snagged the tree's crown, and said, "Jeez Sasuke, why'd you have to take it so fast?"

The attempt at nonchalance failed—Naruto's voice was shaky, and Sasuke could tell even at this distance that the boy was sweating heavily in the cool morning air. Yet the Uchiha was impressed nonetheless. Not only had Naruto figured out the tree-walking skill in a surprisingly short period of time, he'd also come further along in his mastery of it. Sasuke took the huge tree as fast as he did because he _had_ to. Going any slower on a tree this tall would have definitely overtaxed his ability to manage chakra.

Naruto, it seemed, had outperformed him.

And that just would not do.

"Hurry up and catch your breath, dunce," Sasuke growled. "We're going to race."

"Race?"

"To see who can get to the top of a tree _last_."

* * *

Momochi Zabuza awoke and sat up as he heard a stirring just outside his little cavern. He knew he was either in extreme danger or none at all—only someone friendly to the Ghost Brothers or capable of killing them noiselessly could have penetrated so deep into the cave without alerting him. With a kunai in one hand and the other near his sword, Zabuza watched the door open, relaxing a tiny bit when he saw Haku there carrying a steaming mug of... something.

"Oh good, you're awake!" Haku said, smiling brightly. Seeing the familiar expression on his protégé's face, Zabuza relaxed, returning the kunai to its usual place beside his makeshift bed. "I brought some herb tea," the boy continued, crossing the room and kneeling in front of the former Master of Hidden Wave village.

"Smells like puke," Zabuza noted as he took the mug from Haku's outstretched hands.

"It will replenish your strength," Haku replied. Zabuza shrugged and took a long drink from the mug. The effects were not long in coming; even as he swallowed, the man felt restored. The taste was foul, but Zabuza was used to disregarding unpleasant sensations and emotions. He drank the rest in one long gulp.

"You have performed well," Zabuza said, returning the empty mug to Haku's still-outstretched hands. The younger ninja knelt and laid his head in the man's lap. Almost automatically, Zabuza's hand began stroking the long, black locks of the boy's hair. Haku sighed happily at the treatment, and Zabuza permitted himself a tight grin—his protégé required so little in return for his love and utter loyalty. Zabuza did not waste time wondering about the warm sensation in his chest when he engaged in this little ritual; those kinds of feelings did not merit attention.

"I saw two interesting things today," Haku said, "while I was out gathering the herbs for this tea."

"Oh?"

"The first was a boy—a cute one. I think I'd like to keep him. Can I keep him?"

"Of course," Zabuza replied, "but if he makes trouble, I'll have to kill him."

"He might be helpful," Haku said, "He is a Leaf Ninja, but not a very smart one. We could manipulate him..."

"And you like him."

"Yes."

"We'll see, then."

"I saw another Leaf Ninja, a boy... probably only genin. He was on the same team as my boy."

"Indeed."

"His shirt bore the Uchiha crest."

Zabuza's hand froze in mid-stroke. "You're sure?" he asked. "The Uchiha crest?"

"Positive. I recognize it from the insignia books I used to study back in Hidden Mist."

Zabuza's grin broadened, and turned more malicious. He had lost much to an Uchiha... his village, his dream of challenging Hidden Mist, and nearly his life. Now he would have to flee, selling his services to lowlife scum or to some other, inferior Village Master. He could not get back what he had lost... but he could get revenge. The Uchiha he had faced—that mask could indicate no other family—was too strong to defeat. But this child could suffer for the sins of his relative.

"What good fortune," Zabuza said. "Keep an eye on this team. Inform me when they are vulnerable, and we shall both benefit from this fight. A pet for you, and vengeance for me..."

* * *

"Jeez, could you take any _longer_ to get ready?" the blonde grumbled as Sasuke stepped out of the bathroom, carrying a towel and wearing only a pair of faded boxers a few sizes too large for him.

"You're one to talk," Sasuke retorted, drying his hair a little more, "back in Hidden Grass village it took you _forever_ to go to bed."

"Well, I didn't like that hotel," Naruto replied, closing the blinds to block out the sleeping village. Ordinarily, he would have trained until much later than this, but Sasuke had insisted that they train at the same time, and that they spend a 'reasonable' portion of every night in a decent bed. The Uchiha had even somehow gotten Kakashi to go along with the idea—the jounin had taken over Sasuke's 'Kazuki duty' in the evenings, leaving Sakura to watch after the old man and the kid. And the team leader had ordered Naruto to take Sasuke's advice about sleep. Naruto had grumbled, but decided not to risk being banned from training again.

"The mattresses were too comfy," the blonde continued as he turned down the covers and sat on the creaky bed that almost filled their shared hotel room, "I'm more used to ones like this."

"You _like_ sleeping on a mattress that tries to poke you in the back every time you move?"

"Nah," Naruto said, "I hate it... but I'm _used_ to it. Comfy beds freak me out."

Sasuke shook his head and pulled on a t-shirt, also a bit too large for him. The hem of the shirt dislodged the boxers as it fell, sending the underwear to the floor. Though the long shirt kept all of Sasuke's privates hidden, Naruto blushed and studiously stared at a point above Sasuke's shoulder. The taller boy took one step, realized what had happened, and hurriedly pulled the shorts back up, his face showing just the slightest tinge of pink.

"What happened to your regular PJ's, man?" Naruto asked, "Didja piss in 'em?"

"No, dunce," Sasuke snapped, "I just felt like wearing something different."

"Well, can't you at least afford some clothes that fit?"

"These are my brother's," Sasuke explained.

"You wear your brother's clothes to bed?" Naruto asked, "Why? Dontcha have enough of your own?" Since he didn't have a brother, Naruto didn't really know whether this sort of thing was normal. On face, it seemed a little odd. _Then again,_ Naruto thought, _if I had a brother, of course I'd let him wear my clothes if he wanted to._ He realized that Sasuke hadn't responded to his question, and prompted, "Well?"

Sasuke climbed onto his side of their shared bed, causing the usual chain reaction in the bedsprings. "When I was a little kid," he said after a moment, "Itachi used to help me undress and get ready for bed. He would always have me wear some of his old things... shirts and boxers. They were always loose and soft—great for sleeping in—and since they were just for bed, it didn't matter if they sometimes fell off in the night."

Sasuke sighed and turned out the light, plunging the room into total darkness. "I started wearing my own pajamas a few years ago," he continued, "but sometimes, when I miss my brother, I wear some of his old things to sleep. It makes me feel like he's here again, dressing me for bed."

_He must really love his brother a lot,_ Naruto realized, _if he misses him like that just from being on this mission._ He wondered how it would feel to really miss someone... to want them nearby so badly you'd wear their old clothes just to remind yourself of them. Oh sure, he cared for Iruka-sensei, but he so rarely got any close interaction with the teacher, it was difficult to _miss_ him. Seeing Iruka was a treat, but _not_ seeing him was... normal.

Being alone was normal.

"Well, aren't you going to make fun of me?" Sasuke asked, his voice tight with embarrassment.

Naruto realized that the pale boy probably regretted telling him something so personal. But he couldn't answer—pretending not to hear, he rolled over, facing away from Sasuke and squeezing his eyes shut to hold the tears in. _How can I tease you,_ he wondered, _when I've always wanted to have someone I love enough to miss?_

* * *

"No fucking luck," Hiroshi said, glaring at the well-trampled mud of the riverbank. "There've been at least a dozen people—and god knows how many animals—walking around here the last few days. Maybe they came out of the stream here, and maybe they didn't; the only thing certain is that they're miles away now."

Itachi swore and spat on the ground. Zabuza and his men had proven unexpectedly hard to track, and the need to desperately seek out each tiny clue had drastically slowed his pursuit. "We'll have to widen the net," he growled, "They can't have gotten out of the country yet, not with Zabuza injured... They're probably lying low somewhere between here and Kokawa. Going south or west would take them near Konoha—something they can't risk. East takes them back to Wave Country, and we would have encountered them. So it's north. Any news from Gai?"

"Nothing since yesterday," Hiroshi said. "His Hyuuga hasn't seen a damn thing."

"Hmm..." Itachi mused, "you know, I remember there's a network of caves just outside of Kokawa. If they made it that far, it would be the perfect place to hide out—far enough underground to avoid the Byakugan, close enough to a town that they could reprovision easily."

"Well then that's probably the place," the older ninja agreed. "Don't suppose you remember exactly where these caves are..."

Itachi shook his head, replying, "There are probably maps in Konoha we could use."

"Bah," Hiroshi retorted, "We'll waste too much time. Better to set up near Kokawa and ambush the bastards when they emerge from their cozy little hideout."

"Kokawa's what... two days away?"

"One and a half, if we push it. But we should save our strength. Whether we make it in one day or two, Zabuza and that kid will probably have mostly recovered. No sense rushing in and getting ourselves killed."

"Then let's go ahead and encamp for the night," Itachi said, glancing towards two of the ANBU nins who were examining another shallow spot a short way upstream. He had sent six of the team members out in two-man groups to scout, but the remaining four and the two medic-nins had stayed with him and Hiroshi. The scout teams could not waste time babysitting a genin, even one with excellent medical talents. And as for Chikako... well, Itachi had his own reasons for keeping her nearby.

Hiroshi nodded and signaled to the team members, one of whom immediately jumped up into one of the trees to assume lookout duty. The other retreated into the forest, returning a moment later with the rest of the group behind him. Itachi turned away as the various ninjas performed their encampment tasks, sitting down at the base of a large oak. He cleared his mind and began to slide into a meditative state.

Before Itachi could sink too deeply into the trance, however, someone shook his shoulder. He turned and glanced up to see Chikako standing next to him. "Someone needs to take the third watch for Hiiro," she said, "He strained his ankle this afternoon. I've repaired all the damage, but unless he rests it tonight the injury may recur."

"Very well," Itachi said, nodding. "I'll have Washimaru take his watch."

"Is there any chance we could stop by a town in the next few days? I've run a little low on bandages."

"In two days we should be at Kokawa."

"All right. The shortage isn't critical, but with rewrapping the minor wounds, and the possibility of major ones when we meet those guys again... well, the supply pack I took just wasn't designed for a mission of this duration."

Itachi nodded ruefully. "Sasuke's probably pissed at me for being gone so long," he said, "I'll bet he's itching to brag about his mission. You wouldn't know it if you saw him around other people, but he _can_ be just about the most exuberant little guy in the village."

Chikako smiled, sitting down next to the ANBU captain. "I've seen flashes of that," she said. "Their first senbon class, one of his classmates made a bad throw and sliced Sasuke's arm. The whole time I was wrapping it, he was telling me how he'd been the only one to hit the center of the target. I can still hear him saying, 'and I hit it _two times_!'"

"That's almost exactly how he told it to me," Itachi said, grinning.

"I can't figure out why he warmed up to me so much," Chikako admitted, shaking her head. "There wasn't even any gradation to it; the first time we talked, he just started smiling, and after that..."

"It's your eyes," Itachi said, "You have warm eyes... a mother's eyes."

"You think I'm motherly?" Chikako asked, arching an eyebrow and smirking.

"I think..." Itachi trailed off, not entirely sure how to say what he meant. Chikako's smirk faded, and for a moment, he could see those lines in her face again, the etchings of deep sorrow, held at bay by... "I think you are full of love," Itachi said, the words boiling out of him almost as fast as the realization. "That's what Sasuke sensed in you... that you were overflowing with it, just waiting to give it to someone."

"And he wanted my love?"

"Not just him."

Chikako smiled again, leaned towards Itachi, and kissed him briefly on the lips. "You already have it," she whispered.

Itachi smiled in reply and wrapped an arm around her. "Well then," he replied, "I guess being out here has its consolations."

Chikako laughed and leaned her head against Itachi's shoulder. "Don't worry about Sasuke," she said, "He's probably strolling through the trees right now with his sweetheart."

"Then he'll probably have something to ask me about besides training when I get back..."

"I won't give him 'the talk' for you."

Itachi grinned, again, saying, "Come on... please?"

"No!"

* * *

_That,_ Sasuke decided, _was the most exhausting half-hour stroll I've ever taken._ He clung to the top branches of his tree, painfully aware that he had too little energy left to do more than slow his fall should he lose his grip. Grimacing with the effort, he slung his legs over a branch to provide extra support—the sweat trickling down onto his hands was not going to do anything for his hold on the bark.

Naruto grinned at him from an equally high perch in a nearby tree, though he was equally sweaty and had tied his jacket around his waist in an effort to stay cool. His breath misted in the midnight air as he said, "Tied ya."

Sasuke nodded, and replied, "I don't think there's any point in trying to go slower."

"Yeah," Naruto said, shaking his head and sending more than a few drops of water flying away from his blonde locks. "Wanna get _faster_ now," he elaborated after a moment. Both boys leaned against their trees and relaxed for several minutes, recovering their strength after a _very_ slow climb.

Once he felt strong enough to at least descend without killing himself, Sasuke said, "Let's go back."

"Sure," Naruto answered, and started dropping down his tree, bouncing from branch to branch just nimbly enough to keep himself from free-falling. Sasuke followed suit, though he tried to exert more control than Naruto did. The net result ended up being much the same, however, and Sasuke had to grab desperately at one of the low branches when his chakra-enhanced foothold slipped.

Finally, both boys arrived safely at the bottom of their respective trees and promptly collapsed. Staring up into the branches of the tree he'd just climbed, Sasuke felt a strange sense of accomplishment. He'd mastered skills and techniques before... he was familiar with that thrill. But this was something different. This time, he hadn't been _taught_. It wasn't like when Itachi first instructed him in tree-walking three years ago, or when father had harangued him throughout his first missteps in learning the great fireball technique. He'd figured out how to slow down all by _himself_.

There _had_ been a little help from Naruto, of course... but it wasn't like the guy had told him what to do. He'd just provided the competition that spurred Sasuke on.

A rustling noise caught Sasuke's attention and he turned his head to see Naruto sitting up and shakily pulling on his jacket. "C'mon jerk," Naruto said, charming as ever. "Let's get back to town before I freeze."

Now that Naruto mentioned it, Sasuke realized that the night air was cold, and getting colder by the minute. He pulled his knees up to his chest and rolled back onto his shoulders, then kicked forward, using the weight of his legs to help him jump to his feet. The sudden change in altitude made him a little dizzy, but he managed to stumble over to where Naruto had just clambered to his feet and was swaying slightly. The two boys managed to avoid falling over again by leaning against each other. Slowly, and somewhat unsteadily, they started back towards Kokawa.

The forest paths were uneven, however, and after a few close calls, a root finally tripped up Naruto enough that both of them tumbled to the ground. Sasuke found himself lying underneath Naruto, with the blonde boy's cheek pressed against his own. "Sorry," the orange-clad genin said. He tried to push himself up, but his shaky arms almost immediately gave way and he thudded back down on Sasuke again, causing a somewhat pained exhalation.

"Just rest a minute," Sasuke suggested once he got his breath back. Naruto's body was very warm, so the cold felt less evil. And though Naruto was pretty heavy, laying underneath him seemed a better destiny than breaking his next fall. Sasuke could have done without the root pressing into his back, but right now he was pretty uncertain about his own strength, and there was no guarantee that the next place they fell down would be any more comfortable.

So Sasuke felt somewhat relieved when Naruto relaxed a little and sighed. The boys rested in companionable silence for several minutes before Naruto said, "You think this really made us stronger?"

"Of course," Sasuke replied, "I can tell my chakra control has improved, and I'll bet my overall reserve of chakra has increased, too."

"I guess you're right," Naruto admitted. "It just... it's not that incredible, is it? To run up a tree? I wish we were learnin' some _real_ techniques... stuff we could use in a fight."

"Like that weird clone skill you use?"

"Or your fireball."

Sasuke smirked, and said, "Well, I guess there's one thing we could do."

"What?"

"Trade," Sasuke explained. "You teach me the clones, and I teach you the fireball. It's not like having Kakashi teach us new things, but we'll be expanding our skills. Deal?"

"Deal," Naruto replied immediately. "And... um... thanks."

"What for?" Sasuke asked. "We're teammates... we're supposed to help each other improve."

A long moment passed in which Naruto didn't say anything, and Sasuke began to fear that he'd somehow insulted the blonde, whose warm body had started to tremble. Then Naruto drew in a ragged breath, and croaked, "We... we should get back." With obvious effort, he pushed himself off of Sasuke, then pulled himself upright with the aid of a tree.

Sasuke got himself up, using Naruto and the tree as aids. He wrapped one arm around the other boy's shoulders, and Naruto wrapped one around Sasuke's chest. Then they set off towards Kokawa, stumbling, exhausted, but somehow keeping their feet as they made their way through the dark forest.

Almost half an hour later, they staggered into their hotel room and collapsed onto the bed without even bothering to turn on the light or take off their clothes. Even with the uncomfortable mattress, Sasuke felt like he might pass out immediately, but Naruto had other ideas.

"Sasuke," the blonde whispered, his breath tickling the larger boy's ear, "I... I lied to you one other time."

"What?" Sasuke asked, wanting to turn his head towards the blonde, but feeling too exhausted to move even that much.

"The very first day we were a team, when we introduced ourselves to Kakashi-sensei. I lied to you... to all of you."

"_Really_."

"I said I hated waitin' three minutes for instant ramen, but I don't. I kinda like it... the smell, the antisation..."

"Anticipation?"

"Yeah, that. Anyway, I wasn't tellin' the truth."

"It's not a big deal," Sasuke said, trying to fight down a wave of embarrassment as he remembered his own words on that day... words he'd said more because he wanted to antagonize Naruto than because he meant them.

"It's 'cause I didn't trust you guys, y'know." Naruto explained. "I couldn't say what I really hated. I almost did, but I thought... I thought I'd look weak."

"Tell me," Sasuke said, though his curiosity was tempered by a strange sense of foreboding. "Tell me the truth, and I'll forgive you."

Naruto closed his eyes. "I hate... I hate the way everybody in our _fuckin'_ town looks at me. They stare, and they squint, with their cold eyes, and they look away when they realize I've noticed them. Like I've got some kind of disease they could catch." He let out a hollow laugh. "Uzumaki Naruto disease."

"Do I..."

"Nah," Naruto said. "You look at me like you hate me... but it... it's a _warm_ hate... 'cuz you _know_ me. The others just hate me for bein'... alive."

Sasuke blinked, trying to muster some response appropriate for that kind of revelation. Before he could come up with anything, however, Naruto rolled away from him and curled up on another section of the mattress. And though his head had begun to spin with questions, concerns, and possibilities, Sasuke's physical exhaustion proved a more powerful force than mental fascination. Within moments, he was asleep.


	9. A Battle In the Mists!

**EPISODE NINE: A Battle in the Mists!**

Daybreak had not brought any warmth to the area of Kokawa, nor even really much light. Thick mists had risen from the river and blanketed the land, making the morning seem even colder than it actually was. Still, Naruto sweated as he attacked a thick stump with fists, feet, and weapons. His jacket and undershirt had already been discarded and were hanging from a nearby branch, yet his nearly continuous assault on the stump had already covered him in a sheen of moisture.

Of course, Naruto barely noticed the sweat now, focused as he was on the stump, on his katas. He moved through the forms rapidly, though he was being sloppy and inefficient. However, he welcomed each error as something to keep his mind occupied and dedicated to his task. Tinkering with his stances took up too much mental energy for him to think about where he had been less than an hour before, how he had felt.

Having shared a bed for several days, Naruto hadn't really been surprised to wake up next to Sasuke, but the exact nature of their position had been a bit of a shock. They'd been too stupid and exhausted to pull the blankets up over themselves before falling asleep, and in the cold night they'd sought out the only available source of warmth—each other. And so Naruto had awakened cheek to cheek with his teammate, arms and legs entwined.

Embarrassing as that was, it was even worse for Naruto to feel his morning erection throb each time Sasuke's hot breath washed over his ear. It had been well over a year since Naruto had been that entangled with someone else, but his body apparently still remembered where it could lead. And matters had grown even more complicated when Sasuke shifted against him and the stiff lump in the paler boy's groin had pressed against Naruto's side.

Fortunately, Sasuke had rolled away a few moments later and Naruto had been able to make an escape without waking him. But even though Sasuke would never know how intimately they'd embraced that night, Naruto was having a hard time forgetting—and so was his cock.

His muscles screaming from overwork, Naruto stopped whaling away on the stump and took a breather. To his considerable relief, the erection had finally subsided. Not taking any chances that it might return, Naruto closed his eyes and sat down with his back against the stump, concentrating on mentally cataloging the errors he'd made in his katas so that he could ask Kakashi to help him with them.

"It seems I only run into you when you're asleep," a warm voice said, and Naruto opened his eyes to see Haku standing in front of him holding a covered wicker basket.

"Oh, I wasn't asleep," Naruto said, "I was just... um... meditating." He jumped to his feet, realizing as he did so that his erection had returned. Hoping to keep Haku's attention away from his crotch and its embarrassing condition, Naruto asked, "Whatcha doin'?"

"Just getting some things from town," Haku said, adjusting his yukata.

"Geez, you gotta be cold in that thing," Naruto said, eyeing the flimsy fabric and trying not to think about the lithe body beneath it. "Here, lemme lend you my coat."

Before the other boy could protest, Naruto had fetched his favorite orange jacket from its tree branch and was helping Haku into it. Because the older boy was so slender, it fit fine in the shoulders, though the sleeves were far too short.

"Well, it's not a good fit, but it should do," Naruto said.

"Won't you be cold?" Haku asked.

"Nah," Naruto replied. "Besides, I'm a ninja! I should get used to being cold! I might have a cold mission someday!"

Haku smiled, "You certainly are dedicated."

"That's 'cause it's my dream to be the Hokage! The best ninja in my village! Then, everyone will acknowledge me!"

"Well, Mr. Future Hokage, would you be so kind as to carry my basket for me?"

"Sure!" Naruto agreed, fervently telling his penis to soften up. It did not obey. He took the basket and started walking next to Haku along a path away from the village.

"So how much longer will you be staying here, Naruto-kun?" Haku asked.

"We leave tomorrow," Naruto said, "and we're going straight to Wave Country, then back to Konoha."

A strange expression passed over Haku's face at the mention of Wave Country, but it was quickly replaced with a wistful smile. "That's too bad," the long-haired boy said, "I might not get to see you again."

"Oh, don't worry!" Naruto said, "I'll come back here someday."

"I'm sure you will," Haku said, smiling.

The pair walked along in companionable silence for a while, but eventually Haku drew to a halt. "I live just a little further this way," he said, "but my... my father hates visitors, so we'll have to say goodbye here." He slid out of Naruto's jacket and pulled it onto the blonde, but did not zip it up. "Thank you for all your help," he said quietly, his hands still resting on the jacket's thick collar. Then he bent down and kissed Naruto gently on the lips.

Naruto's heart was thumping so loud he was sure Haku could hear it as the older boy's hands left the jacket collar and started tracing their way down the blonde's chest. Feeling something press at his lips, Naruto parted them without really thinking about it, and suddenly Haku's tongue entered, coiling over the contours of his mouth.

Naruto's erection became almost painful in its intensity.

Haku pulled away momentarily and Naruto whimpered, but the taller boy began to kiss his way down Naruto's body. First his chin, his cheek, his neck, and then down his exposed torso, along the line of his developing pecs, to his soft stomach, his belly button, and then the thin strip of skin just above the waistline of his pants.

Naruto whimpered again, and his hips involuntarily jerked forward. Haku kissed him one more time, then raised up and put his lips next to Naruto's ear. "Next time you see my face," he whispered, "I'll kiss all of you." Then he stood, trailing one hand across Naruto's crotch. The delicate fingers traced the outline of the blonde's rigid cock through the thick pants, then encircled it and very lightly squeezed.

Naruto came with a quiet wail, collapsing against the taller boy as the near-constant arousal of the morning came to its inevitable conclusion. He clung desperately to Haku's slender body as his cock pumped semen into his undershorts. The older boy soothingly stroked the blonde's back as the aftershocks of the orgasm faded. He waited until Naruto could stand steadily again, then leaned forward and kissed him on the lips one last time. "Remember," he whispered, "next time." And then he was gone.

Naruto leaned heavily against a tree, suddenly certain of three things. First, he would definitely be coming back here someday. Second, he definitely had to talk with Iruka-sensei about all this.

Third, he _definitely_ needed to change his underwear.

* * *

A thud and the unmistakable scent of preservatives informed Shikamaru that Chouji had arrived. Saying hello seemed too troublesome, though, so he just continued to stare up at the clouds drifting by overhead. Chouji, as always, took no offense, and sat next to him in companionable silence for several moments before opening a new bag of chips. 

"You did real good today," Chouji said as he crunched through his second mouthful. "I didn't think we'd ever get that kid down."

"It wasn't that hard," Shikamaru demurred, but in truth he'd been stumped at first, too. The four-year old kid had been hoping to impress his father (an ANBU soldier currently away on a mission) by learning to climb up a tall bamboo tree. With such a slight weight, the tree hadn't even bent, but once up at the top, the boy had realized the ground was too far away and he'd frozen. Even worse, when the mother tried to fetch him herself, the tree had cracked, meaning that none of _them_ could risk climbing up after him.

Of course, after a few minutes, Shikamaru had seized on the obvious solution. Using his shadow jutsu, he'd frozen the boy in place until Ino could take over his mind. She'd made the boy jump off the tree onto Chouji's multi-sized belly, and the kid had bounced from there safely into Asuma's arms. All told, it had taken five minutes to get the kid down to his relieved mother and earn their D-class pay.

"I wouldn't have come up with that idea, though," Chouji said. "We're lucky to have you on our team."

Shikamaru smiled slightly and stretched. "It wouldn't have worked without you, though," he countered, "Without your multi-size ability the drop would have been too far."

"And Ino too, huh?"

Shikamaru snorted, but conceded, "Yeah, Ino too."

"I guess it's best that the swap didn't go through, then," Chouji said. "Though it would have been kinda fun to have Naruto on the team."

"Probably," Shikamaru replied. He still felt somewhat torn over the incident. On the one hand, his own team had functioned much better since the swap fell through; the entire drama had made Ino realize how much trouble her attitude had been causing. She had subsequently mellowed, though she could get pretty sharp-tongued towards the end of the day.

On the other hand, Naruto's team had taken a turn for the worse, if that was possible. The blonde himself hadn't reported much trouble, but on the occasions that Shikamaru had been able to observe Team Seven, he could tell that there was a great divide there. Sakura and Sasuke were obviously close, and seemed to be trying to put up some unified front against Naruto. If the going got rough, Shikamaru thought, they wouldn't hesitate to sacrifice Naruto to save their own skins. Though Ino's nagging was a bother, with her at least the bad feelings were always out in the open. On Team Seven, the negative emotions were hidden, festering quietly until they could destroy its members.

"He's sure been gone a long time," Chouji noted, almost as if he shared Shikamaru's worries. "You don't think anything's happened to him?"

"If his team had been killed, there would have been an alert by now," Shikamaru said, trying to reassure himself as much as Chouji, "and there's no reason for anyone to take him as a hostage." Yet even as he said that, he remembered Naruto's grinning face, the golden sunlight glowing on his tan thighs, and the unexpected softness of his heated skin as they'd touched on _that_ day. Suddenly, Shikamaru could imagine a number of reasons to take Naruto hostage.

Not that he wanted that for himself, of course not. But if someone _did_ want that sort of thing, well then Naruto might be exactly what _they_ wanted. Them.

"Yeah, you're right," Chouji said, crumpling up his empty bag of chips and tossing it into a nearby litter bin. "Besides, if anyone kidnapped him he'd probably annoy them so much they'd pay _us_ to take him back." Shikamaru smiled again, tilting his head to see a full grin on Chouji's plump face. "I can hear it now," the plump boy continued, "'You better let me go right now, bastards, or else I'm gonna come back and kick your asses when I become Hokage!'"

Alone, the words weren't that funny, but paired with Chouji's hideous rendition of Naruto's voice, they were absolutely hilarious. For a moment, the boys just stared at each other, and then burst out laughing. Shikamaru's worries evaporated—of _course_ Naruto would be fine. He was absolutely indestructible.

And for the thousandth time, Shikamaru wondered how Chouji always knew exactly the right thing to say.

* * *

The scraggly bushes and shallow ditch provided scant cover, but in the drifting mists Zabuza-sama had summoned, the Leaf ninjas and their small company passed less than a yard away without seeing the ambush. Any sound of breathing the small party of former Mist-nins might have made was drowned out by the murmur of the river on the opposite side of the road. Haku therefore focused on keeping his chakra suppressed as the group's jounin walked by. Zabuza-sama's eyes widened in apparent recognition, but Haku couldn't remember reading anything about a white-haired Leaf-nin with an eyepatch back when he was in Hidden-in-the-Mists. It seemed a one-eyed ninja wouldn't be very threatening, though. Then again, ninjas knew better than to expect anything from appearances other than deception. 

Plodding footsteps indicated the passing of the old man and boy... Haku had thought they looked familiar when he'd spied on them in the village, but hadn't been able to positively place them. Lighter steps coming by at the same time undoubtedly belonged to the girl—a non-factor, by Haku's estimation—and the target of the operation, the Uchiha.

Then a strong chakra passed, inducing the skin-crawling sensation Haku always got in the presence of Cloud Ninjas. This was the visitor, and the biggest question mark in the operation. If he had the same attitude as most of his countrymen, he'd at least stand by as the Leaf Ninjas were killed, and maybe even join in. But if he chose the opposite route, then the ambush would have two jounin to deal with, rather than just one.

Finally, a loud thumping from the path indicated that Naruto was coming. Haku glanced at Zabuza-sama, who nodded sharply. Haku nodded in reply, then slid the comforting mask over his face. Moving as quickly as he could, he leaped out of the ditch and over the bushes, delivering a sharp punch to a pressure point on Naruto's skull. The blonde dropped like a rock, completely unconscious.

Zabuza-sama and the Demon Brothers silently emerged from the mist. The ex-jounin signaled for a brief conference, then leaned forward. "We must change our plans," he explained, "I will take the Jounin. You two take care of the girl and incapacitate the Cloud Nin. Kill the girl if you have to, but not the Cloud Nin. Haku, you have the honor of killing the Uchiha for me."

Haku could barely contain the exclamation of joy that threatened to burst from his lungs at this command. To be honored by Zabuza-sama in this way was more than he had ever hoped. Desperately happy, Haku reached out and squeezed his mentor's hand, knowing that no greater display of emotion was acceptable, under the circumstances.

"What about this one?" one of the Demon Brothers asked, "He's still alive."

"He'll be a pet for Haku," Zabuza-sama said, "we'll worry about him later."

"And if he wakes during the attack?"

"Then kill him. Unlike the girl, he's actually got enough skill to put the other Leaf ninjas on our trail. We have to protect ourselves." Zabuza-sama looked carefully at Haku as he said this, and the boy understood what was meant.

"Of course," Haku said. It would be a pity if he couldn't keep Naruto, but if it came down to a choice between the blonde or Zabuza-sama's safety, then the answer was obvious.

"Then go," Zabuza-sama said, picking up Naruto with one arm and hefting his sword with the other. "I think we might make a little extra use of this one," he murmured, and drew his arm back as the Demon Brothers melted into the haze. He stared ahead for a minute, his eyes straining to pierce the fog despite the enhancements all Mist ninjas knew. Then, with a grunt, he heaved the boy through the air. "A little chaos will help our cause," he explained to Haku.

As the first exclamations of terror came from the group ahead, Zabuza-sama whispered, "Haku, if I die facing that jounin, do not worry about completing my revenge. Flee. Make your way to Hidden Rain or Hidden Waterfall. That man is too much for you."

"Yes," Haku lied as his mentor vanished into the fog. _As if I could run away from your killer,_ he thought, charging forward towards his target, _as if I could do anything but avenge you, or die trying._

Then he was upon the Uchiha, and he had no time to think of anything other than combat.

* * *

Sasuke's kunai was in his hand before he'd even identified the orange object that flew past him and thudded heavily into the ground. The moment he recognized the shape of the body and its blonde hair, he grabbed hold of Inari and shoved him into the underbrush around a nearby stand of trees. Sakura, having realized that the limp form belonged to her teammate, stupidly chose to scream. Deciding she wouldn't be any help, Sasuke grabbed the old man and shoved him into the bushes, too. 

Kakashi and Kazuki were already alert, weapons out and at the ready. Sasuke scanned the narrow area of the road, his view stymied for the most part by the thick fog that had followed them all morning. Sharply signaling for Sakura to be silent, Kakashi began inching over towards the spot where Naruto had fallen. The girl clamped her hands over her mouth, apparently realizing how clearly she'd revealed their position.

Between the sudden quiet and his near-blindness, Sasuke felt his hearing sharpen. Sounds that just moments ago had been subliminal were now in the forefront—the ragged breathing of the clients, the creaking of tree branches, the crunch of dirt beneath Kakashi's sandals. A faint rushing noise came from the river, and there was a strange whirring sound getting louder...

Before he quite reached Naruto, Kakashi did a sudden backflip, and a huge object flashed through the spot where he'd been just an instant before. Trailing the whirring sound behind it, the object twisted up in its trajectory and crashed into a tree. Once it stopped, Sasuke had only a moment to realize that it was a sword before his attention was drawn to the man who had materialized standing on the flat of the blade.

"Sharingan Kakashi," the man stated calmly. "It seems I must kill you."

"Momochi Zabuza," Kakashi replied, "formerly of Hidden Mist. This might be a little tough, but..." He reached up to the protector he kept draped over his eye and lifted it up to reveal a scarred eyelid. Then the seemingly ruined lid opened to reveal a fully mastered Sharingan eye. "you're still going to die."

Whatever Zabuza said in reply to this, Sasuke never heard it. Something flickered at the edge of his field of vision and he instinctively ducked into a roll, coming to his feet just as a trio of needles buried themselves in a tree right behind the spot where he had been standing.

"You're fast," a voice said, one that sounded vaguely familiar, but muffled. Before Sasuke had a chance to figure out where it had come from, someone wearing a Hidden Mist hunter-nin mask appeared in front of him. "But you're not as fast as me," the masked figure concluded.

"Heh," Sasuke growled, "We'll see about that. No matter what, you're not going to get the old man and the kid."

"I don't give a damn about your clients," the masked ninja said. "It's _you_ I've come to kill, Uchiha."

For just a moment, Sasuke lost focus as the surprise of this revelation washed over him. He barely recovered in time to block the needle that his opponent stabbed at him. As his kunai ground against the senbon, Sasuke reached into his pouch for a second weapon. Simultaneously, his attacker began forming a series of seals with his own free hand.

The thick mist suddenly cleared to reveal a huge array of ice needles hovering in the air. "Now die," the masked one said, and the spikes shot towards Sasuke.

But the training with Naruto had sharpened Sasuke's control immensely. Almost without thinking about it, he forced his chakra into his legs and used it to enhance his strength and speed. At the last possible moment, he leaped upwards, using the shattering explosion as the needles clashed as cover. Grabbing a set of shuriken instead of a kunai, he flung them at the masked mist nin, who was hard-pressed to dodge them. Grabbing a branch from a nearby tree, Sasuke used it as leverage to jump to a tree behind his enemy. Sticking his feet to the new branch, he hung upside down and stabbed at his foe, finally drawing the desired kunai from his pouch.

The masked ninja avoided the attack at the last moment, blocking Sasuke's forearm with his elbow. Adjusting his intent, Sasuke threw the kunai rather than stabbing with it. The attacker was forced to step back in order to dodge, and Sasuke used the opportunity to launch himself off the branch and kick his enemy in the chest.

The masked ninja flew backwards and flopped over awkwardly. "It seems you might even be faster than me," the ninja admitted as he jumped to his feet. "But it won't save you." Glowing with chakra, he formed a single seal, and suddenly Sasuke was surrounded by a dome of rectangular panels of ice, their glassy surfaces forming a set of perfect mirrors.

Before Sasuke could move, he saw an image of the attacker appear in each of the mirrors, holding three senbon. "Now," the false hunter-nin said, "I'll show you my real speed."

* * *

Seeing the strange ice mirrors form around Sasuke, Sakura's first impulse was to rush to his aid. She found her way blocked, however, by two menacing ninjas equipped with giant metal claws. 

"Where are you going, pretty thing?" one of them asked, his voice distorted by the scuba mask covering his mouth.

"Stay and play with us a while, little girl," the other urged, leering at her, "we promise not to hurt you..."

"Don't you two think you're a bit old to be making advances on a twelve-year-old girl?" Kazuki interjected, and suddenly the albino was standing between Sakura and the two Mist nins, his naked sword resting lightly on one shoulder.

"You should stay out of this," one of the attackers warned. "We only care about the Leaf ninjas. If you keep quiet, and stay out of the way, you won't get hurt."

"Oh, that's quite impossible," Kazuki replied. "Leaving a young girl to face full-grown men would be most ungentlemanly of me, and I would feel awful about leaving one of my kind hosts in danger. No, I think we shall have to fight." Sakura would have protested against being called a 'young girl', but at the moment she could feel nothing but relief that she would not have to fight such terrifying opponents alone.

"Then we shall bury you in a shallow grave."

"You think so?" Kazuki asked, twirling his sword in his hand and sinking into a ready stance. "This is Ka-Kiba," he said, brandishing the narrow, straight blade, "it shall bring death to you both, and I will leave _your_ corpses to rot in the sunlight, and be picked over by carrion beasts."

The demonic-looking twins only laughed, a guttural, evil sound, and then charged, their claws at the ready. Sakura saw immediately that a razor-edged chain stretched between them, and they raised it so as to ensnare and mutilate the albino.

Kazuki released a disdainful snort and jumped into the air, stabbing Ka-Kiba through one of the links in the chain, pressing it into the ground. Keeping one hand on the sword's pommel, Kazuki twisted around in the air, landing a kick on each demon brother's head, causing them to stagger apart and disengage from their chain. As part of the same motion he brought his feet together and curled up, then kicked out, using the weight of his legs to pull the sword free of the ground and his body into the air. After a brief spiral through the fog, he landed several paces behind the stunned Mist ninjas.

Kazuki lunged forward, Ka-Kiba leading the way. One of his opponents managed to get up a claw in defense, but Kazuki merely spun around him, running him through just under the arm. Using the dying ninja as a fulcrum, Kazuki kicked the other in the head with both feet. As the Mist ninja reeled back, Kazuki landed, drew his blade from the body in which it had been sheathed, and thrust it up through the other's chin and into his brain.

The whole skirmish had taken less than six seconds. Seeing the dead men lying on the ground, one of them still twitching as his nervous system went haywire, Sakura felt woozy and somewhat nauseous. Both of the deceased were still staring emptily at her.

"Not much of a challenge after all," Kazuki muttered, withdrawing his sword from the dead ninja's head. "I suppose they're worth a taste nonetheless," he continued, and then drew his tongue along the red blade, blood sliding off the metal and into his mouth. Then, with a shudder of pleasure, he swallowed, just as Sasuke screamed from within the mirror prison.

Sakura fainted.

* * *

Inari's heart palpitated as he heard Sasuke scream again, and a ball of ice seemed to grow in his stomach. It was happening again, just like he'd known it would. Despite his best efforts, he'd started to kind of like the kids who were looking after him, and now they were going to be killed—just like his mother had been. Killed by ninjas. 

Another scream, and Inari cried out in sympathy. Only a minute before, Sasuke had been strong and alive. Inari could still hear his promise to defend them at all costs ringing in his ears. But the stronger ninja had created some kind of trap, and now Sasuke was dying.

Sure, he hadn't been the nicest of them—he hadn't tried to play games with Inari, like Sakura had, or been funny like Naruto. But of the three young ones, Sasuke had been best at making Inari feel safe, like anything that happened could be handled. He was like Kakashi in that respect; he radiated cool competence. And yet, he was helpless now, helpless and dying.

Yet another scream echoed along the road, and Inari tried to cover his ears to shut them out. He lowered his head to the ground, tears beginning to pour down his cheeks. Yet as he did so, he caught sight of something gleaming—the kunai Sasuke had thrown at the enemy ninja earlier. He almost turned away from it, not wanting to be reminded of the dark-haired ninja. But then he remembered a conversation he'd had with the old ninja, Kakashi.

_"Your grandfather told me why you frown," the white-haired ninja said, sitting down next to Inari, "and I understand why you don't like Naruto very much." _

"That's right," Inari said, "he can't understand because he's never lost someone precious to him."

"Indeed," Kakashi said, "He's never had anyone precious at all."

"What?"

"Naruto never had any parents. And because of something beyond his control, almost everyone in our village hates him. He's never had anyone that loves him, so of course he can't understand your kind of pain. And yet... he never lets any of it stop him, stop his dream. You can learn something from him."

"What can I learn from that moron?"

"That there are two ways to respond when bad things happen. You can give up, like you have, or you can do whatever you can to overcome those bad things. That's what Naruto does. That's what your grandfather is doing. And you could do it too, if you tried."

_I can't fight that ninja,_ Inari thought, _but I can at least give Sasuke his weapon back, so he has a chance._ Almost before the thought was complete, he was moving, stumbling through the bush to grab the knife. His fingers closed around the cold steel, and somewhat unsteadily he clambered to his feet and tossed it towards the strange ice mirrors that were hanging in midair.

To Inari's horror, a hand reached _out_ of one of the mirrors to grab the knife, and it was followed in its emergence by an arm, a torso, and then the head, protected by that ominous mask. "Don't interfere, boy," the masked ninja said, still hanging half out of the mirror, "or else I might have to come out and deal with you."

Inari felt transfixed by the empty stare of the featureless mask, unable to move except for the shaking of fear. If he hadn't gone just an hour earlier, he probably would have wet himself. Yet, before the evil ninja could do anything more, an orange blur slammed into him and knocked him out of the mirror entirely.

"Fight someone yer own size, jerk," Naruto shouted as he stood over the woozy ninja, "leave Inari alone!"

* * *

Despite his confident assertions, Kakashi had to admit that he had been off balance from the beginning of the fight. The obvious attack on Naruto, though unfortunate, had been easy to recover from. If Sakura hadn't screamed and thus pinpointed their position, it wouldn't have had any effect at all. But Kakashi was aware now that he'd misjudged the aim of Zabuza's attack. He'd let himself get fooled into accepting the obvious explanation, and adopted a bad strategy as a result. 

Things seemed to have gone well at first. Recognizing the mist as a distraction and a means of allowing Zabuza to employ some of his best jutsus, Kakashi had burned out the air in his immediate area with a fire jutsu. The four mist replicas that had been closing in on him had suffered destruction as a result, and additionally, Kakashi had caught sight of the real Zabuza.

That was the point at which Kakashi had made his fatal error. Thinking that Zabuza's target was the old man and boy, Kakashi had taken to the river, hoping to use it as a screen for his movements as he worked upstream to the clients. The moment he'd come up, though, he'd realized something was wrong—the water felt unusually heavy, and his motions were sluggish. Then the river had seemed to wrap itself in a sphere around him, and Zabuza had appeared at his side.

"This water prison should hold you," the former Mist-nin had said, "long enough for my apprentice to kill that Uchiha brat. Then we can finish the rest of you off at our leisure."

Simply put, it was a disaster. From his prison, Kakashi could see a strange set of hovering mirrors and hear Sasuke screaming from within. There was no sign of Sakura or Naruto, and Kazuki was similarly invisible, not that Kakashi had ever counted on him to be of any help. With Sasuke apparently outclassed, and himself caught, things looked pretty hopeless.

And yet, for some reason Kakashi couldn't understand, the fake hunter-nin that was apparently Zabuza's apprentice had emerged from the ice mirrors, and Naruto, somehow revived, had gotten in a good hit. There was a chance, then, that his subordinates could escape, though Kakashi held out little hope for himself.

But now even that hope was dashed. Burning an extravagant amount of chakra, Zabuza created another mist replica using a single-handed seal and sent it towards Naruto, who was still standing over the fake hunter-nin.

Though he didn't quite know the limits of the water prison, Kakashi decided to gamble that it could not be used to kill him directly. Though quiet speech was his habit, he shouted, "Naruto! A replica is coming to attack you!"

The blonde turned, his eyes widening as he saw Kakashi's situation. He almost didn't dodge the cleaver-chop of the replica's sword, instead rolling awkwardly off to the side. Fear showed in his face as the power of their opponents became clear to him, and for a moment, Kakashi despaired. _He's going to run,_ he thought.

"Go ahead, kid," the replica taunted, as if reading Kakashi's thoughts, "Run away. You're not my target, after all... the only one of you who really has to die is the Uchiha. I might have to kill your teacher—after all, I can't have him following me—but you can go. Run away and live."

Kakashi cocked his head to one side, puzzled. Towards the end, the replica's tone had turned almost pleading, as if Zabuza really _didn't_ want to kill Naruto. If the missing-nin had intended to convince the blonde, though, he thoroughly failed. Instead, Naruto jumped to his feet again, shouting, "Never! Sasuke may be a jerk, but if you try to hurt him or my other friends, then I'll kill you!". Then his hands crossed in the main seal as he added, "Shadow Replica Jutsu!"

Kakashi let out a low whistle. Though he respected Naruto's potential, he hadn't really believed Iruka when he said the blonde had created a thousand shadow replicas. Ten or twenty, Kakashi had always believed, would be the kid's limit.

And yet here Naruto had just gone and created 100.

* * *

Kazuki's eyes widened as he watched the roadway fill with copies of Naruto. Though he didn't use the shadow replication technique himself, he'd been briefed on it by an expert, and knew that creating more than ten replicas and holding them for any significant length of time was quite difficult. For a genin to produce dozens of the replicas and hold them for even a moment was beyond impressive—not just in terms of stamina, either. And Naruto wasn't even using his _special_ gift. 

_Too bad his chakra reserves aren't a bloodline skill,_ Kazuki thought, readying his sword. Naruto's replicas were charging Zabuza's mist clone, but Kazuki doubted they'd be able to kill it. If Naruto had limited the number he'd produced, they would have been able to attack in concert, and possibly destroy the false Zabuza. With 100, however, there was no chance of coordinating attack. That meant Kazuki would have to step in. Of course, he could choose to sit the battle out at this point—surely nobody in Hidden Cloud would blame him for doing so. But Kazuki had plans that nobody in Hidden Cloud knew about, and antagonizing Hidden Leaf right now would not serve those designs. Indeed, if he saved these Leaf ninjas today—particularly Sasuke—the good deed might pay fantastic dividends down the line.

A loud crashing sound from the road brought Kazuki's thoughts back to the matter at hand. As he'd predicted, Zabuza's replica had easily repelled the Narutos that had dogpiled on him. The shadow clones were tumbling through the air, bursting into puffs of smoke as they hit branches, the ground, or the water. One of them crashed through the brush and landed beside Kazuki, but to his surprise this one did not vanish—it was the actual Naruto.

"Hey Nomuchi-san," the real blonde said. "Looks like I couldn't take him."

"You should have used fewer," Kazuki said. "Don't worry, I'll fight him off."

Naruto briefly dug in his satchel, retrieving a sheaf of shuriken. "Here," he said, "use these against the _real_ Zabuza."

Raising an eyebrow, Kazuki accepted the weapons, and started to tuck them into his shirt. He froze, however, when he felt his fingers tingling... a talent he'd picked up from a young boy in Hidden Rain allowed him to sense chakra in items, and these were fairly bristling with it. As the realization dawned on him, Kazuki smiled and said "You never meant to destroy the clone at all, did you?"

Naruto only grinned and leaned back against a tree, brow furrowed in concentration. Kazuki nodded, finished tucking away the shuriken, and jumped into the road just as Zabuza's replica started to hunt around for Naruto.

"Try fighting me instead," Kazuki instructed, bringing his sword into a ready position.

"Taking me on with a toothpick?" the clone said, "I'm insulted."

"It's not a toothpick," Kazuki replied, smiling, "It's a fang." Summoning chakra to his legs, he charged, dodging the replica's heavy sword and aiming a thrust just over its shoulder. The mist clone staggered back to avoid Ka-Kiba, and Kazuki used the opportunity to lunge inside the arc of his opponents arms. Now that the giant sword was neutralized, Kazuki calmly stabbed the replica through the foot, causing it to collapse into water. With Ka-Kiba planted in the dirt, Kazuki flipped over its pommel, withdrawing the shuriken and throwing them wildly in Zabuza's general direction.

The missing-nin was already molding chakra to form another mist replica—not an unexpected eventuality. _You knew that you might defeat one replica, but not several,_ Kazuki thought as Zabuza, seeing the threat, released the seal before the replica was complete. _Aware that you could not defeat Zabuza alone, you distracted him with your clones and prepared your strategy,_ he continued musing as the missing-nin jumped and twisted to avoid the two shuriken that actually had a chance of hitting him. _I'm impressed, Uzumaki._

The four shuriken suddenly transformed into four Narutos, each holding several kunai. With a shout, each Naruto threw his weapons towards the missing-nin. Zabuza had no choice. With kunai screaming through the air around him, he withdrew his hand from the water prison and ducked just as the water around him exploded with the impact of the weapons.

A moment later the missing-nin rose from the water, blood streaming from a few light scratches. "You'll have to do better than that to kill me, Leaf brat," he said.

"I think he did fine," Kakashi interjected, already on his feet again. "From now on, you'll have to worry about me, and I'll warn you I never fall for the same jutsu twice." Nonchalantly inclining his head towards the riverbank, Kakashi said, "Naruto-kun, Nomuchi-san, please check on the others. I'll deal with this one."

Kazuki nodded, then retreated into the brush, where Naruto was standing and brushing himself off. "You go to Sasuke," Kazuki said, "Sakura's already safe... I'll take your clients to her."

Naruto nodded energetically and disappeared into the mist, which had begun to thicken again. Kazuki shook his head and turned to make his way towards the clients. _If only that power lay in his blood,_ Kazuki mused, _rather than sealed in his belly, what a feast I would make of him._

Then, thinking of the plans his partners had already laid for the boy, Kazuki grinned, adding, _Nevertheless, I'll still have my chance._


	10. Preview! Explanations!

IF YOU JUMPED HERE BECAUSE OF AN AUTHOR ALERT, GO BACK TO THE PREVIOUS CHAPTER. IT'S THE ACTUAL UPDATE!

**Preview and Explanations**

This section will include a preview of the next chapter, as well as a list of the new characters introduced into the story (to date). Additionally, at the end there are a few author's notes.

_A hard drive erasure wiped out my pre-written chapters, so updates will be less frequent from now on._

**Preview of Episode Ten: The Foxtrap Unlocks!**

"Clearer," the old woman whispered, "it's growing clearer. Shinigami brings me such sharpness of vision..."

"Tell me," Ume said quietly, "tell me what you see."

"The Uchiha ascend to unparalleled greatness," the Crone rasped, "from the seeds in the womb of the captive woman, a tree with three trunks..." She coughed again, less violently this time, but blood still painted her lips a vibrant crimson. "The first seed carries the old line, the pure eye, into the future," she continued, "and the second... carries a bright mind with a eye that pierces all shadows." Coughing interrupted her again, and afterwards she gasped for breath.

"The third?" Ume prompted. "Tell me about the third."

The old woman sighed, then gurgled, "The third... the third..." Her red eyes widened, and then she bolted upright in the bed crying, "Light and fire! The seed that grows without planting!" She stayed rigidly sitting for a moment, then crumpled again, gasping, "Power, power beyond all imagining... the third seed brings forth the strongest branch..." She trailed off into inarticulate whimpering, her eyes shut tightly as if trying to block out the sight of the future. "I am blind," she finally muttered, "the last was too bright," and then plunged into another coughing fit.

* * *

**Original Characters**

**Akabara Chikako:** A chuunin medic-nin from Konoha. She has a fondness for Sasuke because he reminds her of her dead younger brother, Hideaki. She is now involved in a relationship with Itachi.

**Battabu Kenji:** A genin from Hidden-in-Grass village in the Plains Country. Kenji is a skilled jumper, and seems to have a thing for Naruto. His motivations, however, still aren't clear.

**Chikakawa Hikaru:** A friendly traveler from an unknown ninja village—his headband bears the symbol of a quartered circle. He doesn't look like much of a warrior, but seems to possess an awesome power over nature. He recently left Hidden-in-the-Sands village, where he enjoyed a close relationship with Gaara. At present, he's headed home... wherever that is. It seems he can breathe dirt.

**Morimura Hiroshi:** A friend of Itachi's, and a member of his ANBU team. Much older than Itachi, but still quite resilient. Somewhat prone to salty language. He's still not entirely convinced that Haku is a boy.

**Nomuchi Kazuki:** An albino ninja from Hidden-in-Clouds village, traveling to Wave Country so he can catch a ship to Water Country. Disowned by his clan because he lacked their bloodline talent, he later learned that he had a new bloodline skill of his own. There has since been some form of reconciliation with his family. He has a friend who knows a great deal about jutsu, and he knows about the Kyuubi.

**Uchiha Crone:** An old woman of the Uchiha clan who has suffered from a mutation of the Sharingan. Unable to see the real world, she has gained the power of clairvoyance. She sees the multiverse as a giant tapestry composed of individual weaves for each possible world; as a result she tends to describe her visions in terms of strands or threads. Her existence was a secret kept by the Uchiha clan, but Itachi revealed it to the Sandaime.

**Uchiha Nori:** Father of Itachi and Sasuke. Politically important in Konoha because of his position as Uchiha clan leader, Nori is also a skilled warrior. He does not have a good relationship with either of his sons. Frankly, a bit of a bastard. He's not technically a new character, since he appears in flashbacks in the original, but I gave him the name and most of his characterization.

**Uchiha Tomiko:** Mother of Itachi and Sasuke, in love with Nori but aware that he doesn't love her. Nori ordered her to treat Sasuke coldly, and she lacked the strength to disobey his commands. She has violated the bonds of marriage at some point. Itachi is her oldest child, and Sasuke is her youngest. She's also technically not a new character, but I gave her the name and most of her characterization.

**Uchiha Ume:** A girl not much older than Sasuke raised in a branch house of the Uchiha clan. She is not a ninja, but has enough skill in medicine to take care of the crone. Her name is somehow ironic. She is a prolific writer of Haiku, which appear to have some predictive powers. Of the other Uchihas, only Tomiko knows the truth of Ume's power, and collects her poems in a book.

* * *

**Original Jutsus**

**Battabu Jump**—_Taijutsu_—Members of the Battabu clan are trained in leaping from infancy. Advanced students of the family technique can jump up to a mile using a combination of natural muscle and chakra enhancement. Watch out when they come down—it'll hurt if they land on you.

**Goodnight Kiss**—_Taijutsu_—The user touches several of the target's pressure points, then kisses the target on the forehead. Eight hours of peaceful, uninterrupted sleep (for the target) result.

* * *

**Author's Notes**

The major thing I want to clear up here is that I changed Itachi's age. According to the official materials, Itachi is only about five years older than Sasuke. I think this is a little strange, though, since Itachi seems _much_ older than that in the most recent manga chapters (around 220). Sasuke looks 7 or 8 in those, and Itachi looks more like he's 16 (certainly he doesn't look like he's 13 or so). It also didn't work quite as well for the story I wanted to write to have him so young. So for this story (I remind you it's AU, so don't bitch to me about this), Itachi is 10 years older than Sasuke, which puts him in his early 20s at the start of the story.

Additionally, a word on my usage of Japanese in this story. I'm only going to use Japanese for honorifics (because it's useful) and specialized words (like 'jutsu'). I'm also using 'sensei', because at this point that might as well be an English word (we import terms all the time; that's why English is so great). As far as jutsus go, I intend to use English translations for techniques we see in the manga or anime, and plain English for techniques I make up. There's no reason for me to make up poorly-translated jutsu names in Japanese so I can pretend I look cool. Because I'll be using 'jutsu' as if it were an English term, English grammar will apply, and I won't include the 'no' particle.

* * *

**Disclaimer**

I do not own Naruto. Viz, Shounen Jump, and Kishimoto Masashi neither have neither condoned nor endorsed this story. Characters and jutsus particular to this story are my own creation and intellectual property; if you like them, you are free to use them so long as you credit me. This story is my intellectual property, and it may be freely copied, displayed, and distributed so long as no money is charged for the privilege of receiving or reading it. If you like this story so much you feel an urge to send me money, buy official Naruto merchandise instead and make Kishimoto-sama as filthy rich as he deserves to be.


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